An Experiment in Urban Homesteading

For most Detroit residents, the inferno that swept through a run-down boardinghouse, killing 10 mostly elderly and disabled residents, was one more reminder of how decrepit the city's housing stock has become. Detroit has averaged one new housing start annually for the past 17 years, among the lowest building rates in the nation. But last week, in a counterpoint to the sorrow of the deadliest fire in nearly 50 years, the city also offered a sign of hope. As the choir of gospel singers sang and the mayor beamed, Detroit opened its first new inner-city housing development in 30 years.

In the bleeding heart of downtown, near a city power works and a Chrysler assembly plant, Victoria Park offers serene, curving streets and handsome colonial- and Cape Cod-style homes. The incongruous setting did not deter builders from snapping up city-owned lots for a dollar apiece, then designing gracious homes with porch decks, two-car garages and cathedral ceilings. Buyers, unfazed by the city's mean reputation, grabbed 70 of the 86 available houses, for prices that were typically 25% less than comparable homes in the suburbs. Among the first new owners: a Desert Storm nurse, a church minister and an IRS agent. Cheered Detroit's crusty mayor Coleman Young: "We are building a new town in town, one neighborhood at a time."