Predatory

Bernadette Atuahene moved to Detroit’s eastside for three years and interviewed residents who lost their homes to property tax foreclosures. As she listened to stories and studied the data, she discovered that between 2009 and 2019, 1/3 of all Detroit residents lost their homes because they could not afford to pay their property taxes. And get this: a huge percentage of these homes were overcharged by the city, in blatant violation to the state constitution. 

Most of these overassessments targeted the lowest income residents of Detroit, almost all of them Black. The city inflated property tax bills to make up for lost revenue – and to remake the city in another image. This is one of the (awful) ways that Detroit made its so-called “comeback.” The foreclosed homes were snapped up for cheap by wealthy developers and many were demolished by the city (to make room for more development). 

Bernadette Atuahene work is important because it calls bullshit on the racist myths that portray poor people as lazy and irresponsible. This article is long, but it’s worth reading at least the first few pages. As it turns out, these illegal antics aren’t limited to Detroit. The data reminds us that poverty is not the result of chronic laziness, but of corrupt leadership. Predatory policies grow poverty for many – so a few folks can become wealthy. This is how America’s economic system has worked for centuries. Our politics ought to reflect this truth.