Can Detroit Build 1,000 Homes? Breaking Down Mayor Mary Sheffield’s Housing Plan

In the Season 2 premiere of Innovative Real Estate, the Three Squared team explores Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield’s ambitious initiative to deliver 1,000 new single-family homes across the city over the next four years. Drawing from firsthand experience developing housing projects in Detroit, we dive into the realities of navigating permitting, infrastructure, land development, tax incentives, and affordable housing initiatives within the city’s evolving development landscape. We also reflect on the broader impact of architecture, planning, and development in shaping sustainable communities throughout Detroit.

Episode Highlights:

• Mayor Mary Sheffield’s housing initiatives
• Detroit’s plan to build 1,000 single-family homes
• The reality of Detroit’s permitting process
• Why “builder-ready plans” aren’t the full solution
• Infrastructure, taxes, and utility challenges developers face
• The importance of Neighborhood Enterprise Zones (NEZ)
• Affordable housing funding and the Housing Trust Fund
• Multifamily housing vs. long-term neighborhood growth
• How architecture and development can strengthen communities

View the full show notes for Episode 79 HERE.

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Transcript

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Let's make the architect work in areas that are more efficient. Stop approving buildings. Start approving systems. I would never correct you, but we can't keep that on air. Welcome back to the long-awaited return of Innovative Real Estate. You're your host, Three Squared Inc. I am Breck Crandall. I have with me today Jill Ramirez and Leslie Horn. And uh this is season two. This is the kickoff of season two. We're back, and guess what? We have microphones. Even Leslie has a microphone. I do, I do. I've had I've and easy to use, actually. Makes me sound a little better. I'm pretty happy about this setup. Sound good, feel good, and we're back. Uh today, kicking things off, we are jumping into episode 80 by talking about the new administration in the city of Detroit. We've had uh a change in leadership. Uh Michael Duggan has walked away from the mayoral seat and is now on his way to uh to to maybe run for uh well he is running, maybe to be the governor of the state of Michigan, which is you know we're we're excited for here. Um, but uh but the city of Detroit now has a new mayor, um, and that is Mayor Mary Sheffield. And we're gonna be talking today about Mary Sheffield, who she is, what she's bringing to the table that's specific to our category, which is gonna be that innovative real estate. And so we're gonna be talking about how she is making a push on housing initiatives across the city of Detroit. And if you know anything about Three Squared Inc., uh, we care a lot about housing and we care a lot about Detroit. So this seems to be right comfortable in our wheelhouse. Jill Leslie, anything you want to add before we start talking about who Mary Sheffield is? I think that you should give a little anecdote about the state of the city of Detroit that you just attended. Yeah, state of the city. We were uh we were we were invited to make an appearance. Um uh just a brief reminder: our our project, the Cochrane Home, which is where I'm actually calling in from today, um, was decorated by the AIA Detroit and the AIA Michigan and their honors category for for single-family house. And it was attended by Mayor Mike Duggan when he cut the ribbon um for for our home. And so we have had uh pretty constant communication with the the mayor's team, um, and and we've been uh made aware of the transition and who the new the new sheriffs are in town, so to say. And um, and so we we we received that invite to go to the state of the city address in person, which was an absolutely incredible event. It was held at a high school here local in Detroit that had performances by the high school students, um, really just an immersive, just slice of Detroit moments that that allowed us to be like really proud to just be a part of everything that's happening. And uh she has a lot of ground to cover, um, she being Mary Sheffield. And uh one of her key topics that evening was to talk about her housing initiatives and um what she's planning to roll out, what the initial steps are that we think are fantastic ways to start the conversation. But we all know that there's a lot of work to do, and just the designs of homes is not always the whole story, right? All right, so we're gonna get started by talking about uh Mary Sheffield because um she she definitely is a character around here. Um she is the first woman and the first black woman to be in charge of the city of Detroit, uh, which is which is incredible. Um she was born and raised in Detroit. She's daughter of a pastor, and uh she started as a council member in the city of Detroit. She was uh she was actually the youngest council member that that ever joined. I want to say it was like back in 2012, 2013, maybe. She 2012, she joined uh as a city council member, and she was like 26 at the time. And I was like, wow, this is like it's my age. Like, yeah, we we can get stuff done. Um and uh and then by 2022, uh, so a decade in that role, she was she was actually um rose up to the occasion to become council president. So she served as council president, and then um she she ran for mayor, and and Mike Duggan said, Um, I you know I support her bid for mayor. And that was that. She uh I don't I don't really need to get into the details, wanted a landslide election, took 77% of the vote here in Detroit. And um and now she's she's got some some big shoes to follow, but but here's what I will say, and this is this is just an opinion here. This is this is no longer fact. So let me put on my my opinion hat, is that Mike Duggan had a very, very specific role to play, and it was all supporting the narrative of Detroit and the comeback. And to that end, I I think we can agree he's he's done a pretty solid job. Like downtown has cranes, there are towers, there's lights, there's stores on Woodward. That's great. The focus was downtown, it was on big money. Now we need to look at the neighborhoods, and and that's really Ben Mary's message all along. That's why the state of the city was held in a neighborhood, not at a big fancy downtown hotel. Um, that's the vibes here. It it feels grassroots, it feels like uh we are going to start talking about neighborhood initiatives, and a huge gap there is gonna be the housing. We we had housing, we had tons of houses and the history of Detroit, and now we don't have houses. They're they're either abandoned or for the most part they've been raised, they've been taken down. And so we're gonna start looking at those neighborhoods. Now, fair to say not every neighborhood's gonna get equal attention. I think we all have to start there and just acknowledge like just like downtown, it takes a lot of energy and momentum and time and money to see these things really like come to fruition. Mike Dogging was there for 11, 12 years. Uh, it takes time to make these shifts, right? Leslie, you you lived through a little bit of all that. Oh, I saw and witnessed every single bit. And what I really liked, because you know, after the the transition in that two or three year period or after uh the old mayor, I don't even want to say his name, um, was held accountable for racketeering. Um, at the end of the day, Duggan had to come in and really after Dave Bell, you know, Mayor Bell came in, and oh my gosh, his only job, I feel, was to really assess how bad the city was in financial ruin. And then this, of course, it allowed the the bankruptcy allowed a lot of federal help. Duggan really, I think one of his biggest takeaways that we see, which was a success, is now, and it just happened like two or three years ago, there are more people staying in the city. We're increasing our residency in the city as opposed to declining. And that trend stopped just recently, like three two to three years ago. And now, again, like you stated, I mean, there's a lot of federal funds that got flooded into the city to help demolish and raise buildings that were unsafe. At the end of the day, we need a a new plan. May Mayor uh Sheffield has some really, I think, attainable goals. Uh, if you were to take a look at the number of permits two to three years ago, uh you would probably say there's no way that we're going to hit these milestone goals. But I think it's a solid, I think we can do this. I think as a city, I think she's got a good plan. I know there's other things that can be done to support those goals, but Rick, I'll let you continue. But the city has really come a long way back in its efficiencies and in its strong foundation hold. And I just want to quick note the city, what they did when Duggan first came in is they created a 7.2 mile report, right? So for this long, just to your point, that little period, that little dot downtown, they focused on creating a powerful infrastructure and they took the same principles and then applied it to uh the other area other areas, six mile and over on the east side, um, Ashland Altar area. All they they really took the same principles to expand and make those little pockets stronger. And it's worked. So now they're able to create communities within the city that are thriving, and they'll continue to do that. Go ahead with your um with you've got some good statistics here now. Yeah, just briefly review a couple of the things that that Mary Sheffield accomplished while she was council president because and these are the specific items towards like housing initiatives. There's a huge uh push um for the homes that like people people did stay around here through thick and thin, and those homes have seen better days. And so uh she secured millions of dollars through the senior home repair grant program that allowed people to like repair their roofs or like fix their porch uh and so on. Um, she helped explain expand the the NEZ. Um, so if you're familiar with uh with state level taxes and uh your your property taxes in the city of Detroit, you know that they're really high. Lansing started the neighborhood enterprise zone program so that um they could create some tax relief for specific targeted zones within the city of Detroit and and other metropolitan areas. And so she helped expand that program and make it a little bit easier for people to establish neighborhood enterprise zones. Um, she advanced the city's right to counsel ordinance uh through the Office of Defense, which is uh is legal representation for free for low-income residents who are facing eviction or foreclosure. That's I mean, that is a deep-seated topic. Uh say shout out to Nora, our showrunner, for pulling up all of these fantastic notes. So we're coming to you with facts in season two. These are these have been fact-checked and put together. And if we're wrong, you can always blame Nora. I'm just kidding. She's amazing, she's such a support. Um, and just in general, Mary's uh message has always been emphasizing affordable housing, especially for low-income residents. And now, as she's stepping into the mayoral seat, uh she is she has made a pretty staggering announcement that she plans to build 1,000 single-family homes in the first four years. Why do I slow down when I say that? Um, if you if you've been a part of our journey or you've listened in with Three Squared or Innovative Real Estate, uh, then you know that I built a house here in Detroit. Took me five years to build a house here, and by the time I finished, I would find out that I was one of eight houses that were built in the city of Detroit that year. That was not too long ago. That was those two years ago now. Um a thousand from eight? That's uh that's quite a jump. I I don't want to be the pessimist here. We're gonna come at this uh from a realistic point of view, but all in all, I'm just happy to say that we are talking about housing in the city of Detroit. That conversation has not been a focus of anybody for a long time. It has been brushed under the rug uh for for education and for the big three bailouts and everything in between. But we have always avoided facing the issue of housing, houses, not just apartments going up everywhere, but single-family houses where you can live and stay. So, Joe, I'm gonna hand it over to you because uh Mary has come out now. She did a uh a brief uh press release statement a couple of days before her state of the city address, but she kind of laid out uh a multi-point plan of how she's gonna start the conversation around a thousand single-family homes in four years. Yeah, so I think that one of the biggest facts here that really made us kind of like take a big gasp was she announced that they were going to reduce the permitting process from 30 days down to one. Now, this is ambitious to say the least. Uh, the director of BSeed came out and said that they were going to authorize inspectors to review and issue permit on the same day during field inspections. I, for one, am thrilled to hear that they're working towards eliminating some of the red tape around the building process. But based on our extensive experience in building houses in the city of Detroit, we know it's not just the building permitting process. It's a lot of those different entities that you need approvals for that some of them really aren't speaking to each other, such as Water and Sewer Department. You need an additional permit through them in the city. And then you also need your building permit. You need to make sure that you've got your financing in place. So your bank has got to be on board. And if you're getting a plot of land through the DLBA, Detroit Land Bank Authority, that's another level that you've got to factor in. So all of those things, um, again, that's why I say this is an ambitious plan, is because we've been through it, we have experience here and we know that it needs some revamping. And I'm so excited that there's really some big motions here to make those plans go into play and support the housing that the city needs. So uh, Breck and Leslie, I'm curious to hear what your additional thoughts are on that number one. I think that's the heaviest hitter here on this list. It is. And the only thing I'll say is okay, they say it can happen one day. Let's let's see. Let's like absolutely go through the process. And you know what? If it only takes three days or five days, holy smokes, we're we're so far advanced. So, you know, like any good plan, they're gonna have little bumps in the road, and we want to do whatever we can to support to make it smoother. And I can't wait to, and I'm sure we're pretty close here to actually go through that process with one of our own projects, right? And point number two is something that we've spoken about a lot with the different few different municipalities now at this point. So some pre-approved new home designs. We've talked about providing some builder-ready plans with different jurisdictions to essentially streamline that process of getting homes approved and built so that they're not being held up by this red tape process. But you have to consider that every single lot is different. There's going to be different conditions. You may have a corner lot, obviously, neighborhoods vary significantly throughout Detroit because our footprint is so large as a city. So we want to make sure that we can support as we can in those efforts. We've been involved in a lot of conversations about how we can start to address things like making sure that the houses are affordable. And so part of that is providing these builder-ready plans so that they still look nice and they're still designed by an architect. I really want to emphasize that we're not trying to propose eliminating an architect by any means. We're just saying let's make the architect work in areas that are more efficient so that we're not wasting time and energy in the areas that don't make sense. Yeah. Right. Right. And I think once we get ready to I can't wait for the follow-up show because we will actually, I think, have an episode dedicated to exactly what our process was on filing. And I think it's, if I'm not mistaken, maybe the liminal house that's up on the block. Yeah. And so last but not least, we're looking to streamline the process again by cutting out about 30% of the administrative back and forth. So when we're talking about that red tape, typically we get some comments from city review, and then there's got to be a timeline for when you're doing that resubmission, waiting on some comments. So if we can eliminate that waiting period, you can just make building that much faster, which ultimately is going to save money when time is money when you're trying to build. Jill, I have a question for you then. So, what do you think the logistics, being our project manager and director of projects, what do you think the logistics look like for reducing the permit time in this instance? And I think you can also extend it to maybe not even Detroit, but also to help other listeners in other municipalities. What are some key points or logistics that might help reduce that time? The list is extensive, but that's a great question. You need to have a builder on board. You've got to have a builder early on so that you can get yourself scheduled because a lot of times we'll get new clients in. Their first conversation with us, we typically say, okay, about a year from now is when you can expect to have your house. And so as long as you've got a builder in in place, you've got to have someone in mind. Tradespeople, there's still a shortage, there's still expensive, there's tariffs going on. There's so many layers of difficulties that go with building a house. It's really not for the faint of heart, but we're here to support. And so having a good decision maker on your project team, whether that's you or a project owner or a representative for you, we're here to support. We're help, we're here to help look through your code and zoning process, conversations with the city to get those streamlined. And then actually getting into the ground, you're gonna need a structural engineer. You need a team that's going to give you the full package. So you've got to get ready to make some big decisions about like what are all your fixtures and finishes going to be? Those are huge things. And we have some documents that are here to equip and help you and organize you because Breck has been through it. You've got to think about every single room in a full house. It's not just a one-room renovation, it's an entire house. So it's a full process. But as long as you've got strategic steps laid out, you can start to make those steps quicker, especially with that support from the city. Breck, do you think if this was um in play when you built your house, you would have saved significant time on the front end? No. That's kind of the problem. Okay, all right. So I'm gonna I'm gonna run this back a little bit because the day the day after uh Mayor Sheffield like you know made this press release, the uh somebody from the free press called me and they're they're like, Brack is an architect working on housing in the city of Detroit. Like, we're curious, what do you think about these like three rules? Um, and I was like, Well, I'm I'm glad we're talking about it, but like same-day permitting let's be honest, that's that's how it used to work. There was a time in Detroit where that was that's how it worked. Like anybody who built in Detroit, you know, 15, 20 years ago remembers walking in to one word word, and walking upstairs and just like slapping your plans down, drinking a coffee, spilling it on the drawings while you uh talk to the guys, they'd circle some stuff in red, tell you you have to correct it, you'd hand them cash over the counter, and you'd walk out with the building permit. And then the inspectors took care of the rest. Like that that process worked for a while, and I think it just really fell off the radar, and then COVID and everything goes online, and and and and the just this whole this whole industry is getting more complicated, not less complicated. And so the red tape persists, and we get to a point where yeah, they can get backlogged, but I don't think b seed ever has been or was the problem. I think the folks at B Seed are doing God's work, honestly. Like, yeah, they were the easiest part of my journey in building a house in Detroit, them and PDD. Shout out to all the folks over there. You guys are doing great. And so there's a part of me that does say, oof, uh, it sounds like you just made B Seed's life a lot harder because now you're gonna have all sorts of folks that are gonna march in there and be like, you said same-day permits without reading the fine print, right? Obviously. I feel for those guys, and I and I hope it doesn't make their lives more difficult because they are doing what they can to approve a lot of really exciting things and to voice reason, and they've got a fine line to bleed with keeping developers and money happy and keeping the real folks who live in Detroit happy, and that's it, that is a fine balance. So, like they have a tall order in their job, and I don't want to make their job any easier. So one day building approval, great. I I think there is some Hey Breck, you said you don't want to make their job easier, you don't want to make their job harder. Oh, I don't sorry. Yeah, no, no, I just want to make sure uh I I really I would never correct you, but we can't keep that on air. No, but but I'm glad that I slipped up because it reminds me of something that I do want to talk about here, which is somebody's gonna bring up at some point, artificial intelligence, review my plan same day. Shut up, Jeff Bezos, and know your place. I do not want artificial intelligence reviewing my drawings, point blank. Because if that's where we're going, there is no need for plan reviews. There is no need for architects, because why doesn't it just draw the buildings too? This is a this is a horror story. We're not going that route. What artificial can artificial intelligence can do is support in this process by flagging things and pulling out code excerpts and giving architects responses that have more information so that they understand where these comments are coming from. There is a support network that could smooth this out, but we do not want artificial intelligence replacing the roles of these individuals, nor should that be a conversation that people are entertaining, because I think that that's just going the wrong way in this industry with the tools that we have. Okay. Right on. So then let's talk about the build already plans. Okay. Great. Scale of economy. This is what Poulty Homes has done for eternity. Uh and it makes neighborhoods that all the houses look the same. So, sure, there are the pattern book homes did a fantastic job of like looking through different neighborhoods, pulling out um, you know, examples of different materials and patterns and colors. That's great. Uh, so that you have uh a little bit of flexibility in the character that you have across multiple homes that are built from the same like builder ready plans. The the main issue that I have with builder-ready plans is that it takes out the conversation of context. And a building without context isn't a building at all. You're just slapping it wherever it needs to go with the same features. And so let me just give you let me give you a very simple example. Two identical homes, one built on the north side of the street, one built on the south side of the street. One gets natural daylight in their windows all day long, in their living space, in their kitchen, in their upstairs bedroom. The other one gets a faint, dull glow in their living room from morning until night. Did you know that a north facing house on average spends $300 by default more in HVAC heating and cooling costs just because it had the misfortune of facing north? $4,000 a year. Almost $4,000. Builder Builder ready plans kind of take out the concept of like we should look at what's around this house and where this house is facing first. So to that end, the things under the building and the bigger forces at play need to be answered first. And this is what I talk to the free press about, and what we're talking to to the city of Detroit and the housing revitalization department about is that like they're concerned, and we are concerned, about the permitting entitlement for their project. They're worried about the taxes being able to afford this, they're worried about appraisals, they're worried about if there's a building buried on that lot, they're worried about if they can tap into Detroit's water and sewer system and if they can get DTE to drop them power. You get all that done. That is the real plan to build a thousand homes. At that point, you could drop anything on top of those, and you could provide housing for the masses. That that is how you unlock housing. And so it's sure the build already plans and the one-day approvals, like great. Like, sure, it's a step in the right direction, but honestly, like in truth, you need to fix the bigger problem and you need to have tax breaks set up. You need to have banks that are willing to work with the Detroit Land Bank Authority and subordinate to their agreements. You need to have conversations with DWSD so that they could give you right of ways and tap your water and sewer and connect your uh your service lines and your meters up to the building. You need to have temporary power on site when you're there building so that you're not running on generators day and night. Like you fix that, and we could do a thousand homes every year for the next four years. And I think that has to be the bigger conversation. Everything else steps in the right direction. Glad it's coming up, glad we're talking about it. But this whole conversation started with Leslie, would this make my job easier and building the Cochrane home? And no, I don't think it would have. I think having support and having the people who are approving drawings communicating better with those inspectors who are going out to the field, communicating better with the teams that have to approve you to cut open a street and then patch that street back up. There was a metal plate over my street in front of my house for a year and three months because the water and sewer department couldn't coordinate a time to review it and sign off on it so we could fill it back up. That's not from lack of trying. That's just that is a full system failure, and one of many in that process. So fix the system. And I think that's that's the way I would sue it. Stop approving buildings, start approving systems. Like, what if you signed off on a plan? A plan. What if you signed off on a plan? Let's start there. Like, here's your floor plan layout. But what if you could change doors and windows and porches and awnings and roof slopes? You could totally reinvent the amount of daylight that's coming into different spaces in that building just by relocating and resizing the windows. And we know where the sun is. That's a that's a matter of fact of the universe. Like it's always gonna rise there, it's always gonna set there. Like, I think I think we could do a little bit better. And I think if we just focused on the things that like the building department and the architects and the engineers are concerned with, the things that actually speak to the health, safety, and welfare of the people who use that building, like your water and your plumbing, like your kitchens, your bathrooms. Like, let's agree on those things. And then let's agree on the construction type. Let's agree on the details of how we frame these, how we fire protect these, how you make foundations for these. Let's agree on those things. And then that becomes standard, and then you could open the floodgates to any architect and any developer who wants to play by these rules because it's all laid out there for you. It's on a silver platter. Now you can take it and do the fun creative part on top of it, and then develop that because the hard part has been laid out for you. And if we can start approving systems, stop approving buildings, I think we can actually build some homes. Amazing. Uh amazing. I know that the city has some plans um for uh some some new funds they're putting together. I mean, they're they're trying to get this funded and trying to support it financially. I know that um, and Jill, I want to ask you about that um also here in a quick second. Um I do want to note, I think that was really profound and making sure that we have a plan, a system. I think the system is really where it goes. Do we believe that by creating systems? Are you talking very specifically about a system, systematic way of construction combined with design? Or are you looking and thinking systems like materials, like you know, the SIP panels like your house is made out of, or a system of you know, utilizing containers, prefabrication systems? Go into a little bit more deep dive on that. Oh, yeah. Well, that's a that's a great clarification. I think I'm talking about two different systems. I'm talking about like building methodologies, like actual sticks and bricks that make the homes, and then I'm talking about a system of like it's gotta start from the top. I don't even know what to call it. It's like a housing approval system, housing approval system, sure. But it's it's support that has to start. In Detroit, the conversation has to start with taxes. If you cannot afford taxes on this building because of our millage rate, then we cannot start construction, period. Point blank. So until you're in a tax break zone or until you have a tax break tied to the loan on that new construction, it's a no-start. Step two is is our house buried on that lot? Is the soil contaminated? And do I have water and sewer and electrical access? If you can't, then that lot is not buildable. We need to categorize these things. So you have to start by like parceling out. I I had a conversation with one of the lawyers who who helped found what became the Detroit Land Bank Authority. And in that conversation, you know, we're talking like we have 62,000 properties. And I said, Well, that's great. How many of them are in a neighborhood enterprise zone? An NEZ? And he was like, Well, I gotta go check. We got to get that list. And he came back with a list. And I said, if they're not one of those lots, then they have to go into a different tax break program, like a pilot program or something else. Those aren't marketable lots. And so if you just how many were on that list? How many were out of the 62,000 on that list? I don't remember the exact number, but it was I mean, it was a fantastic reduction. It was somewhere around 5,000 or something like that. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. It was in that ballpark. Um, but they but they published that, and that's important. That is a huge step in the right direction because if you recall my journey, I called the land bank about 12 separate lots. I would just like walk around the neighborhood and I'd stand in front of one, I'd parcel data, map it, and then I'd call them and be like, is this one available? And every single time out of 12, they said no. And I'm like, then what am I looking for? Like, you tell me what lots I can have. And then that's when they were like, you can only have the lots that we market through a realtor. And I was like, Where's that list? They're like, we don't have a list, we only release them like one at a time, maybe two at a time. Oh okay, do you have one I can bid on? So it's the the whole idea of like these are builder ready lots, it's it's a fallacy at best. So let's start the conversation there. So two systems now on the building side of things, yeah, I am talking about envelope systems and structural systems. Like, don't approve the building, approve the manufacturer who's manufacturing the components of the building. Okay, if you're working with champion homes, approve champion homes. If you're working with guardian structural technologies, approve guardian structural technologies details. Don't approve the actual home, or they're all gonna be the exact same home in different colors. We see enough of that. I I think I think we are Canton fatigued at this point, and we don't need to see any more identical homes. We would like to see homes in general, but we also don't want to see the alien spaceships that are landing in North Corktown and Island View. Like, I don't think that the neighbors are stoked about those either. So there is a fine balance to be had, but like give a little bit of trust in the system. And and I think it is important in all of our communication with like advisors on these topics, because this is not like a business ploy. This is a business ploy, I would have said all three squared all the time, every time, right? It's important that we open this up to like a bigger category of people who can play. No one firm, no one developer, no builder is going to like terraform Detroit's landscape single-handedly. Right. Dan Gilbert's tried. Okay. So, like, unless you have more money than God, uh then join with the rest of us and like and join this effort. Like, let's stop approving one plan and build it a hundred times, and let's start approving a plan that allows us a hundred good designs and gives a hundred people a home that responds to its neighbors to the sun and and to the natural factors of the universe, like wind and air and light and water. Amazing. I know that Jill um has some information because I know the city in this point, they've they've actually are putting up some money. They've got some funds that have been identified and a way to get processed and funded. Jill, I think it'd really be important for you because we've even were intimately involved with not involved, but intimately knowledge about one of the projects that were that was partially funded utilizing some of the funds that the city has has brought to the table. You want to talk about that? Yeah, affordable housing trust fund? Yeah, so this was an executive order. And so essentially this means that 100% of the proceeds from the sales of city-owned commercial properties are gonna go into this affordable housing development and preservation trust fund. So I was lucky enough to tour uh La Jolla Gardens development. So that was hosted via ULI, which we're a member of at Three Squared. And so that development features 42 affordable units in southwest Detroit. It's off of West Verner Highway. It's a beautiful development, and I really want to emphasize that while it's affordable housing, it's loaded with amenities. It's got a community space on the first floor, and it's like the prime factor of that building is called the jewel. So it's got these really beautiful bright blue fins along the facade. And those fins were actually part of the process of utilizing local Detroit welders to help to keep those fins on the project because they were trying to value engineer them out if they didn't fit into the budget. So not only is this project beautiful, it's got a community space, it's got a brick-to-mortar space to support a local vendor that wants to supply whatever they're producing. Um, so it's like a pop-up style space that can be shifted in and out based on whoever wants to occupy that space. They've got a gym, they've got offices. So 42 units, they're fully occupied. So you can see that the demand is there for these style houses. Um, our our friends over at Design Think Tank were an essential part of that project. And so I was really excited to see it. Breck has been in that space as well. So we were really happy to see that they were able to take advantage of some of those funds. So those some of the statistics that we've got here are about four million dollars annually, which is double what was offered last year. So I think that's a huge initiative to support developers that don't just need to make projects pencil, they can also make a project that's going to support the community that lives there. Oh I'm so excited about that project. Um for two reasons. Number one, 100% vacant, uh non-vacant. I mean, it's fully rented, and we're seeing just the opposite on so many other projects that are being built and high vacancies and and such. So this really warms my heart. And it was, it I I think was it the first project that was approved for this for this type of tax fund? No, there were multiple projects. That was just one off the list that we've all been to as a tour. And uh, we know Design Think Tank worked on a massive part of that project. And I think that it was so unique and special that we got to uh promote some local welders here in Detroit to actually make a really beautiful portion of that project happen that makes it the iconic landmark that it is. And shout out to Greg as well. He, I mean, he pulled that project through a lot of trials and tribulations to pull that off. But it but it is another like true testament. There's housing being built all over the city of Detroit, and there has been consistent support for multifamily. And as we talked to uh former director Bryant, um Antoine Bryant, who was who was head of planning, and then uh Alexa Bush, who's taken over for him uh in the interim, both of them have aired their frustrations with us about yeah, there's tons of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, but like where does a family live? Where does a family start their their their actual life here in Detroit and stick around? Because the people who like come in and live in these one-bedroom apartments, they're not here to hang their hat for good and like they're here to work for quicken for their five years and dip. So we we want to create an economy here that that's really supporting the the the families. I mean, it's like can we can we create like better houses that actually start to generate stronger neighborhoods? I think that's the long-term goal. And and we know that ownership has so much more meaning to it than than renting. It's not just a financial play, it's like how much you're willing to give and invest in your neighborhood. Like mowing your lawn is a social activity as as much as it is anything else, right? Like you you you build uh an identity um through through bonding with your neighbors and and being a part of your neighborhood. And we're just you know, you're never gonna have that come out of uh an apartment building. And and so we're we're starting the conversation around all of the vacant lots that are everywhere around here, and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and none of them I would say are like building ready. So let's uh let's go spade a spade and let's just have an open and transparent conversation and bring a lot of people to the table. And I think that there is a win-win-win-win-win because if every firm in the city of Detroit was working full-time, just nothing but housing, there would still be plenty of room at the table. So join us and join Mary Sheffield and help support this initiative. We're gonna come back. Well, as I said, we're gonna do an update on this. Um, we're gonna check in every so often um uh on the status of the city of Detroit and housing, and that's gonna bleed into just Metro Detroit in general because there's a lot going on. We're gonna keep tabs on that and much, much more in future episodes. But until next time, we are three squared inc and this has been Innovative Real Estate. I'm Breck, and these are my co-hosts, Leslie. And Jill, I couldn't get off mute. Failed it, failed it. And special thanks to our showrunner and everything good about this team, Nora. You you are the glue that holds us together. We'll talk to you next time. Thank you very much. Thanks, everyone. Thank you.