They were homes once, but they are homes no longer. They are hollow dangers. Hiding places. Drug houses.
They are lurching shadows that stare down our city’s children as they walk to school. There’s a real home; there’s a shell of a house. There’s a neighbor; there’s two shells of houses. A child wonders who just ducked behind a smashed window, or why that doorway is wide open.
The child is scared — with good reason.
And we need to stop it.
On Aug. 25, I am helping organize an event called 100 Houses to make those streets a bit less frightening for kids. The goal is ambitious, but simple:
Board up 100 houses in a single day.
That’s right, 100 houses.
We can do this. In a way, we must. Because the Abandoned Home has become a terrible symbol of Detroit. Left behind by someone who couldn’t pay the mortgage. Bid farewell by someone who couldn’t deal with the city. These places, like animal carcasses, are quickly stripped of anything valuable — right down to the pipes — and then begin their steady slide into the muck. The windows and doors are soon gone, smashed or destroyed by people wanting to use the place for shelter, hiding, prostitution, drugs.
When one house like that goes down, it affects the block. When many go down, it affects the neighborhood. Families leave. They walk away.
And what’s the result?
Another abandoned house.
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