Black Detroiters are fleeing the city at an alarming rate (Warren: mortgage, houses)

[usroute10]

https://www.metrotimes.com/news/blac...-rate-32716634

We spoke to 10 former Detroiters about why they left, where they went, and whether they have any regrets

Since 2000, Detroit has lost about 295,000 Black residents, or 37.4% of its African American population. No other American city has lost more Black residents.

While Detroit’s white population declined by 44,300 between 2000 and 2010, it has since grown by more than 5,100. Its Hispanic and Asian populations have also grown.

Black people now account for 77.2% of the city’s overall population, compared to 82.2% in 2010, when Detroit had the highest percentage of Black residents in the country.

Whether it’s income, home ownership, or education, Black Detroiters are lagging behind white residents.

Over the last decade, the median income of white Detroiters rose 60%. For Black Detroiters, the increase was 8%, according to Detroit Future City, a think tank that develops strategies for a more equitable city.

The average income of a white Detroiter is $46,650, compared to $32,290 for a Black resident. The unemployment rate for Black Detroiters is 1.5 times higher than white residents.

[Hemlock140]

I don't know why the Blacks are leaving, but I have an idea on the white increase. A former coworker sold his 4-plex in Seattle, and moved to Detroit, where he was able to buy a really nice, large house for cash with the equity from the sale.
I haven't heard whether he has gotten a job yet, but with no mortgage and low property taxes he doesn't need to make nearly as much as here.

[Retroit]

Must be racism, right? When there was white flight, everyone blamed racism, so this must be racist too.

Of course not, in either case. When people can afford to live in a better area, they move. Most of the housing in Detroit is old and undesirable. Poor insulation, small homes, narrow properties, lack of garages, high maintenance costs, etc. Sure there are some nice homes, but a small percent of the total. There are already wide swaths of the city that are abandoned and soon there will be more. The good side is that these areas can be reused as commercial or industrial areas, or even new housing subdivisions.

Unfortunately the author of the article focused on the downtown professionals, when the real story is that the lower income blacks outside of downtown are moving out. And it's not because of the lack of high-end business opportunities as suggested in the article. It is because the breakdown of the black family and the black community has turned the residential areas into drug- and crime-infested ghettos. Of course we can't talk about that because it doesn't fit the liberal dominated narrative.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by Retroit

Must be racism, right? When there was white flight, everyone blamed racism, so this must be racist too.

Of course not, in either case. When people can afford to live in a better area, they move. Most of the housing in Detroit is old and undesirable. Poor insulation, small homes, narrow properties, lack of garages, high maintenance costs, etc. Sure there are some nice homes, but a small percent of the total. There are already wide swaths of the city that are abandoned and soon there will be more. The good side is that these areas can be reused as commercial or industrial areas, or even new housing subdivisions.

Unfortunately the author of the article focused on the downtown professionals, when the real story is that the lower income blacks outside of downtown are moving out. And it's not because of the lack of high-end business opportunities as suggested in the article. It is because the breakdown of the black family and the black community has turned the residential areas into drug- and crime-infested ghettos. Of course we can't talk about that because it doesn't fit the liberal dominated narrative.

Of course it was racism. From 1950 to 2000, the white population dropped 94%, while the black population grew 250%.

It is not the housing that people are fleeing from. These same old houses are going for $200,000+ in older suburbs like Grosse Pointe Park, Ferndale, Royal Oak, Clawson, Berkley , even Dearborn. The problem is that the many inner ring suburbs (1) have far less problems, and (2) became more affordable for black folks as white folks started fleeing (yes white flight from the suburbs!); places like Southfield, Warren, Eastpointe, Roseville, Harper Woods, Redford, and Lincoln Park.

Hamtramck, which has blander and smaller houses than the typical house in Detroit, grew by almost 30% between 2010 and 2020. It is definitely not the age/quality of the housing stock that is the catalyst for black flight.

I do agree that the breakdown of the black nuclear family is devastating and is being overlooked. I did a comparison - the percentage of households headed by 2 married parents in Troy, a wealthy suburb with the best shopping mall in the state, is 60%, while the same statistic in the city of Detroit is 21%.

[Retroit]

If you were living in Detroit in the 1950s in a house that was built in the 1920s or prior and you had a job in a factory making decent money for the time, you could easily afford a nice suburban home in the suburbs. You didn't have to be a racist to know that.

People aren't moving to Royal Oak and Ferndale because of the homes. They are moving there for the restaurants and nightlife.

White folks aren't fleeing the inner ring suburbs. The kids grow up and move further out then their parents get old and move into nursing homes or pass away. Then the house is sold to black people "fleeing" Detroit. What race of people are the black people fleeing from? The white "gentrifiers?

Hamtramck is not growing because black people are moving there. It is growing because Bangladeshi and other Muslims are moving there. Has nothing to do with housing or racial flight. They are younger families having a lot of kids replacing the older people.

[Heidi60]

Where are they moving to?

[Retroit]

Originally Posted by Heidi60

Where are they moving to?

The suburbs.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by usroute10

https://www.metrotimes.com/news/blac...-rate-32716634

We spoke to 10 former Detroiters about why they left, where they went, and whether they have any regrets

Nothing new to me. Many Blacks feel that there are better places to live than Detroit.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Heidi60

Where are they moving to?

Minneapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, DC, Fort Worth, Charlotte, Phoenix, Columbus (OH), Nashville, Raleigh, Northern Virginia. Those are among the places many Blacks from the Detroit area (or Michigan as a whole) have been moving to.

[y2c313]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

Minneapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, DC, Fort Worth, Charlotte, Phoenix, Columbus (OH), Nashville, Raleigh, Northern Virginia. Those are among the places many Blacks from the Detroit area (or Michigan as a whole) have been moving to.

I can't say most of those places are a lot better than Detroit. Maybe if you just count the inner city.