Bankrupt Detroit gains Federal funds for demolition

The bankrupt US city of Detroit has been awarded more than half of the US$100 million (€74.8 million) that has been made available under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to allow it to demolish many of the derelict properties scattered around the city.

Detroit mayor Dave Bing said in an official statement: “My administration enthusiastically supports the federal TARP allocation process that will provide our city with US$52.3 million to fight blight. We already have identified additional areas in our blight removal plan that supports our Detroit Future City initiative. These new dollars will allow us to not only demolish dangerous vacant homes, but also commercial structures within our demonstration areas.”

“This is a significant enhancement to my four-year demolition plan, which is on target to knock down 10,000 vacant structures by the end of this year. Additionally, we hope that the blight removal funding will lead to an increase in business for local demolition contractors.”

Other US cities that will gain from the TARP funds are Flint, which receives US$20.1 million (€15 million), Saginaw, which receives US$11.2 million (€8.4 million), Pontiac, which receives US$3.7 million (€2.8 million) and Grand Rapids, which gains US$2.5 million (€1.9 million).