Detroit Foreclosures Become Farmland
The strategies for dealing with a foreclosure on an individual basis are often little understood; yet, an even less understood phenomenon is how neighborhoods deal with a rash of foreclosures. Of course, abandoned homes that are untended start to reflect poorly on a neighborhood if enough of them accumulate. A glut of foreclosed homes can even begin to lower property values in a neighborhood.
According to an NPR report, a group in Detroit called Urban Farming is taking a new approach to abandoned properties by tilling and planting the unused land, turning the spaces into urban gardens for food products. The group has worked with Wayne County to recycle, in effect, 20 plots in a pilot program that could expand if all goes as expected.
Just another creative way that people are dealing with the lumbering economy....