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Want to get paid to live downtown?
You’re young, you’re hip and you want to live downtown.

Well, you might want to think about moving to Detroit, Michigan, where companies are paying people to do just that.
It’s all part of a new initiative for the downtown core called Live Downtown.
Earlier this week, five Detroit companies announced a five-year cash incentive program to encourage workers to make the move.
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DTE has joined up with four other corporations - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Morgan, Compuware Corporation, Quicken Loans Inc. and Strategic Staffing Solutions - to come up with a scheme that encourages young professionals to come to Detroit to both work and live.

Under the terms of the program, those who buy either lofts or single family dwellings in downtown Detroit are entitled to a five-year loan of $20,000. If they reside in the home for the full five years, the loan will be forgiven. Those who want to rent in the downtown core are entitled to a $2,500 rental subsidy and a $1,000 subsidy in the second year. Both are considered taxable income.

There are also incentives for those who already live downtown. For renters, there’s a $1,000 subsidy at the time of their lease renewal and for homeowners there is a $5,000 subsidy for exterior home improvement costs that exceed $10,000.

The program is similar to an initiative taken in the mid-town area of Detroit a few months ago. That area as well as the downtown core had been the focus of a lot of redevelopment, but with the recent real estate crash in the U.S. many of the new lofts and homes were sitting empty.

"In the midtown area there was a real mix," said Hillegonds. "It’s the cultural centre of the city where the Detroit Symphony and the Detroit Institute of Art and the Science museum are there. It's also the home of Wayne State University. In the last decade ... you saw developers taking an interest in the corridor. Then the real estate crash occurred. You had available housing. But the young talent working there were not living there."

So the mid-town initiative was developed. It has proven to be extremely successful, said Hillegonds. Within the first few months of the program, the companies -- the Detroit Medical System, the Henry Ford Medical System and Wayne State -- had received close to 200 applications and committed $800,000 of its $1 million first year budget.

Hillegonds is hoping that the program for downtown Detroit will be just as successful.

The downtown core had also been the subject of intense gentrification during the 1990s under the leadership of the Mayor Dennis Archer, said Hillegonds. He succeeded in bringing Compuware and its employees to the area. As well, General Motors moved its headquarters to the Renaissance Centre. The riverfront was redeveloped, taking a lesson or two from Toronto's Harbourfront, he added.

There was also a significant amount of loft development as well. With those new public spaces came new employers with large young employees. Restaurants came in to cater them. The downtown became a "pretty attractive physical space," said Hillegonds. There was also a lot of renewal of retail sites and a significant amount of loft development. But then the real estate market crashed, leaving many retail sites and lofts empty.

Now Hillegonds and others in the initiative are hoping the subsidy program will bring even more young professional workers into downtown Detroit, both to work and live. DTE along with the four other companies have a pool of about 16,000 employees. And he's hoping many of them will jump at the chance to live and work downtown.

Already the Greater Downtown Area has attracted a diverse group of newcomers from all incomes, ages, races and backgrounds as well as new businesses. A recent article in the New York Times said the area experienced a 59 per cent increase in the number of college educated residents under the age of 35 in the last decade. Artists, designers, entrepreneurs and other young professionals have taken advantage of the low real estate prices and growing professional opportunities. The Live Downtown program will only encourage more growth, he said.
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Each company has slated $1 million a year for the subsidy program for a total budget of about $5 million for the five years.

As for as Hillegonds is concerned it's money well spent. "Over many decades we have invested in utility infrastructure in the city of Detroit that used to accommodate 1.5 million people. Today the population of Detroit is about half that. It's in our interest to grow the population again and utilize that infrastructure."

kastelke schreef: Atlanta kwam 10 jaar geleden vermoedelijk ook niet echt op iemand zijn short list van wenssteden terecht, terwijl je het nu toch echt wel kan zien als een mogelijkheid waar niemand je nog vreemd voor aan gaat kijken.

Bandido schreef: Uitzonderingen zijn trouwens steden als DC,

RiverCola schreef:Onlangs was er nog een prachtige documentaire op de NL televisie over het verval in Detroit (en de pogingen om de stad weer te upgraden).

Petra/VS schreef:Deze zelfde "gentrification" heeft men dus ook voor Detroit voor ogen.