The Dig

Is anyone actually in charge of oversight of the county tax auction?

Wayne County Ethics Board held a hearing to decide whether or not County Treasurer Eric Sabree broke ethics rules in…

6 years ago

Shipping containers were pitched as the Next Big Thing in Detroit housing — but they couldn’t get off the ground

In Detroit, the two Three Squared Inc. project sites remain empty, except a “for sale” sign on the property at…

6 years ago

Detroit is a cartographic smorgasbord

If you aren’t just looking up directions, there are some more niche maps for navigating, classifying and surveilling the roads…

6 years ago

7 of Detroit’s architectural creatures watching you from above

You might not always notice the gargoyles and other faces carved on Detroit's famous buildings, but they see you...

6 years ago

Detroit has a massive eviction crisis. Here’s how the city could keep renters from losing their homes

In Detroit, a full 46 percent of people facing eviction never showed up to court in 2017, no matter their…

6 years ago

Detroit’s redlining past still plagues the city’s present

In a study, researchers suggest that in Detroit neighborhoods that were slower to recover from the Great Recession, residents were…

6 years ago

Confessions of a jaywalker

In many places, streets force you to engage in risky behavior — sidewalks disappear without warning, or you have to…

6 years ago

Detroit development is getting celebrated at the expense of displaced residents

“Desolation.” “Moribund.” “Shabby.” “Mostly empty.” “Once-vacant.” “Mostly vacant.” “Seldom-used.” “Oblivion.” From the descriptions in this Free Press article earlier in…

6 years ago

Eric Sabree just exposed the fatal flaw at the heart of the Wayne County foreclosure auction

The system is rife with rule breaking, but has been punishingly harsh for low-income Detroiters

6 years ago

Why isn’t Wayne County doing more to keep speculators from exploiting the tax auction?

Even if a buyer can’t unload the property again or decides paying taxes isn’t worth the trouble, losing the house…

6 years ago