Breaking: Duggan Reveals Feds Have Halted Controversial Detroit Blight Demolition Program After Corruption Allegations

By-Brandon Hall
(Email West MIPolitics@Gmail.com)

The feds have ordered Detroit's shady blight program end immediately due to "mistakes and errors."

According to Chad Livengood of the Detroit News:

Mayor Mike Duggan on Monday disclosed the city’s controversial demolition program had been suspended by the U.S. Treasury Department this summer to address “mistakes” and “errors.”

The federally funded program, Duggan said, had been at a standstill since Aug. 15 while the city and Detroit Land Bank Authority met with officials from Treasury and the Michigan State Housing and Development Authority to come up with a new set of practices. Treasury accepted the new procedures on Friday, he said.

Duggan declined to give specific examples of what went wrong, but noted some concern over paperwork, improper billing and misallocation of funds.

“No amount of error in the rules is tolerable,” Duggan said during a Monday news conference at City Hall. “We’re going to eliminate those mistakes with these new controls...”

News of the retooled practices comes as Detroit’s demolition program is at the center of a federal criminal investigation. The program first came under scrutiny last fall after concerns were raised over bidding practices and soaring costs, prompting audits and reviews."

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Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.

>>>Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com

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Photo By Darlene Dowling Thompson