The City of Detroit’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund (SNF) will soon bring more investment into seven city neighborhoods and add additional affordable housing.

The fund will raise $130 million (SNF 2.0) for investment in seven neighborhoods – Grand River Northwest, Warrendale/Cody-Rouge, Russell Woods/Nardin Park, Campau/Banglatown, Gratiot/7-Mile, East Warren/Cadieux, and Jefferson Chalmers. It has already successfully invested $42 million (SNF 1.0) in three Detroit neighborhoods – Islandview/Greater Villages, Vernor/Southwest, and Livernois-McNichols.

“In the first three neighborhoods, we went in and worked with the residents to support development and we saw incredible results,” says Mayor Mike Duggan. “We’ve got new mixed-use apartment buildings with affordable housing. We have more businesses and more parks opening up. We applied the tools that drove the development in downtown and midtown and put them into neighborhoods, and now we’re expanding that to seven more areas across the city.”

The Strategic Neighborhood Fund will increase its scope to include streetscapes, park improvements, commercial development and housing stabilization. The goal is “inclusive growth across the city to create beautiful, walkable, and vibrant neighborhoods for all Detroiters,” says the City of Detroit.

In partnership with Invest Detroit, the city says the fund will raise $130 million to build ten vibrant, inclusive areas throughout the city, touching more than 60 individual neighborhoods over the next five years.

The city will also raise $250 million for the Affordable Housing Leveraging Fund to ensure these growing neighborhoods remain inclusive and affordable for both long-time residents and new residents. The city has already committed $50 million to the fund, which will preserve 10,000 existing affordable housing units and create 2,000 more over the next five years.

With the investments of $42 million, $130 million and $250 million from the Affordable Housing Leveraging Fund, projected investment in the neighborhoods will reach $422 million over the next five years. That investment is expected to leverage more than $600 million in private investments, pushing total neighborhood investment to more than $1 billion.

The success of SNF 1.0 was due in part to the extensive community engagement around the projects. In the Livernois-McNichols area, officials from the city’s Planning and Development Department met with residents more than 50 times in a year before announcing the Fitzgerald Revitalization Project. Today in Fitzgerald, a new central park is set to open this summer, blighted homes have been demolished and more than 100 vacant homes will be renovated and occupied, creating a blight free neighborhood.

This approach is being replicated in the Grand River Northwest, Warrendale/Cody-Rouge, Russell Woods/Nardin Park, Campau/Banglatown, Gratiot/7-Mile, East Warren/Cadieux, and Jefferson Chalmers neighborhoods.

Here’s a map showing where the investments are taking place.

Following a year-long community engagement process, plans are underway in the Grand River Northwest area. The community engagement process is just kicking off in five of the other neighborhoods. Planning for Gratiot/7-Mile and East Warren/Cadieux will kick off in early 2019.

“We are not going to grow as a city unless we do everything in our power to keep the residents we have and attract new residents to join the communities that current residents have built,” says Arthur Jemison, director of Housing and Revitalization. “Preserving and creating affordable housing as we invest in these areas is the right thing to do. There’s enough room for everyone in Detroit, no matter their income or background.”

Here’s where the money will come from:

The City of Detroit and Invest Detroit will raise $56 million in corporate and philanthropic support, match those funds with local resources and secure state and federal dollars to reach the $130 million investment goal. The Kresge Foundation made the first commitment to the fund, pledging $15 million.

Of the $130 million, SNF 2.0 will raise:

• $49 million will be invested in streetscape improvements to create walkable, beautiful streets that are attractive to businesses and pedestrians alike.
• $50 million will be invested in commercial corridor improvements through gap real estate financing to support commercial, mixed-use and multifamily development along each corridor.
• $21 million will be invested in parks, creating catalytic neighborhood parks and improving existing ones by aligning design excellence, community needs and elevating pedestrian experiences.
• $7 million will be invested in single-family home stabilization by assessing existing vacant structures and lots and taking a targeted approach at home rehabilitation to increase density in these neighborhoods.
• $3 million will be invested in the neighborhood planning efforts to work with the community and coordinate these efforts.

  affordable housing in Detroit, Affordable Housing Leveraging Fund, Arthur Jemison, Campau/Banglatown, City of Detroit, Detroit Department of Housing and Revitalization, East Warren/Cadieux, Grand River Northwest, Gratiot/7-Mile, Islandview/Greater Villages, Jefferson-Chalmers, Livernois & McNichols, Mayor Mike Duggan, revitalizing Detroit Neighborhoods, Russell Woods/Nardin Park, Strategic Neighborhood Fund, Vernor/Southwest, Warrendale-Cody Rouge