In a groundbreaking move, the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance has partnered with the City of Detroit, along with private and public funders, to embark on a renovation project that could provide both a new avenue for wealth-building and increased access to affordable housing in the city’s District 3.
The plan centers around three long-vacant duplexes on Mapleridge Street in the Osborn Neighborhood. This location, once a neglected part of the community, is now at the heart of an initiative that will see the properties transformed into six fully renovated units of affordable housing.
Each duplex will consist of two three-bedroom, two-bathroom units, with one unit sold at a deeply discounted rate to qualifying homebuyers and the other offered as affordable rental housing to Section 8 voucher holders. The buyers must have incomes at or below 80% of the area median income, while renters must fall below 60%.
This unique approach of allowing the owner to live in one half of the duplex while renting out the other could become a model for other cities struggling with vacant properties and affordable housing shortages.
The renovation, scheduled to be completed by the year’s end, includes full upgrades to kitchens, bathrooms, roofing, and finishes. The project has garnered $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding and $288,000 in Strategic Neighborhood Fund grants.
Councilmember Scott Benson (Dist 3) represents the Osborn Neighborhood and expressed his support for this innovative approach.
New homeowner, William Griffin, and his family will be moving into the renovated duplex in the Osborn neighborhood.
“As the recent work of my Wealth Generation Task Force points out, the ability to purchase and maintain a home is a key component of building generational wealth for Black families,” said Councilman Scott Benson. “This proposed project will help families achieve this goal by providing homeownership opportunities for families and will provide affordable rental housing for tenants who rent out one of the units in the duplexes. Clearly, this is a win-win situation for Osborn neighborhood.”
But beyond the bricks and mortar, the true success of this project may lie in its potential to shape the future of the neighborhood and the city at large.
The Osborn Neighborhood Alliance’s collaboration with the likes of Al Bogdan and AAB Development Services, Rich Salem and Prime Renovation & Construction, and Matrix Human Services is not merely a development project but an investment in the revitalization of Detroit’s communities.
“The land bank is proud to continue our long-standing partnership with the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance,” said Detroit Land Bank Authority Chief Executive Officer Tammy Daniels. “They bought their first house from us in 2017, on this same block, and we are thrilled to see them building on that success. We hope the work they’re doing to transform these duplexes into safe, affordable housing will inspire others to work with the DLBA and get creative tackling blight in their neighborhoods.”
These duplexes were once symbols of decline, empty for over a decade and owned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority. Today, they are evidence of the positive impact that collaborative planning and strategic investment can have on transforming communities.
Furthermore, the emphasis on resident input ensures that the people who live in the neighborhood have a real voice in shaping its future, an approach that resonates with the broader goals of the Strategic Neighborhood Fund (SNF).
(front; left to right) Quincy Jones, executive director of the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance, is joined by Camille Walker-Banks of LISC Detroit; Julie Schneider, Director of the City of Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department; and Tammy Daniels, CEO of Detroit Land Bank Authority.
“The Strategic Neighborhood Fund is truly a collaboration between corporations and Detroit neighborhoods to increase the quality of life and so that communities become a place where residents, live, work and play,” said Quincy Jones, executive director of the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance. “We sold two of the three Mapleridge duplexes before renovations even began, so I see this as a business model that could be successfully replicated in Osborn and other neighborhoods.”
This project isn’t just about new roofs and granite countertops. It’s about constructing a pathway to generational wealth for moderate-income families and providing safe and affordable housing.
Photo credit: City of Detroit
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