Yvette Griffin owns a beautiful, five-bedroom home of her dreams, while her neighbors are Section 8 renters and others of low income.
She wouldn’t have it any other way.
The minister of Detroit’s Pilgrim Baptist Church, which she co-pastors with her husband, Griffin considered leaving the city for Canton a few years ago and, boy, is she glad he talked her out of it.
“I prayed that God would build me a house from the ground up, and he did,” she says.
The Griffins recently observed the 10-year anniversary of their move into Detroit’s Woodbridge Estates, located near the John C. Lodge Freeway and Trumbull Avenue. The couple’s home was only the fourth house built on the property. Since then the private community has grown to include a mix of 350 market rate, low-income, Section 8, condo, senior, and lease-to-own units, along with additional private homes.
With its economic stew of formulas that offer affordable options from individuals and families of various backgrounds, Woodbridge Estates represents what many experts across the country view as a model for thriving neighborhoods.
“’Love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Once you believe that and do that, it’s not hard to have a community with mixed income.” –Yvette Griffin
When Griffin says, “Oh let me tell you about my house!” her voice mimics the excitement of a lottery winner. “Grown folks don’t want to leave it. “I’m like, ‘You all gotta go!’”
Not only does she enjoy her home, as Woodbridge Estates Association president, Griffin takes an active role in helping her neighbors enjoy theirs, too. She calls the mix of residents, from “six-figure income folks, down to the lowest income,” an asset.
“It’s the management and the people. That’s how we’re doing it,” she says. “It’s the people whose minds are set on our mission statement, which is having a ‘safe and wonderful place to live.’”
Woodbridge Estates programs include a resident conflict and mediation procedure and volunteer safety patrol. The neighbors also benefit from valuable partnerships with agencies like the nearby Wayne State University Police and local schools.
Linda Forte, senior vice president and chief diversity officer for Comerica Bank, says developments like Woodbridge Estates serve the residential diversity Comerica supports.
“I think home ownership is viewed as positive to the structure of neighborhoods and long-term, sustainable communities,” says Forte. “There’s also some value in having information that’s readily available to renters.”
Along with sustainability, Griffin says her place of residence reflects her spiritual views and teachings.
“Love thy neighbor as thyself,” she says. “Once you believe that and do that, it’s not hard to have a community with mixed income.”
Photos by Paul Engstrom
Detroiter’s dream of more mixed-income housing may become a reality added by E.B. Allen on
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