An overlooked obstacle in Detroit: getting a mortgage to buy a house

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published December 22, 2015 at 2:56 PM EST

In Detroit, "We're seeing a sort of de facto redlining still playing out today," said writer Anna Clark.

Detroit is often called the comeback city by politicians and boosters. The central business district is recovering. But many of the neighborhoods are still struggling. There are a lot of empty houses. If they don’t sell, they’ll quickly become derelict, blighted, another problem.

A major obstacle to buying a house is getting a traditional mortgage.

Anna Clark recently wrote an article for Next City, "The Threat to Detroit’s Rebound Isn’t Crime or the Economy, It’s the Mortgage Industry."

Clark says redlining is alive, well and dangerous in Detroit. "It effectively set up the architecture of segregation that we still see today," said Clark.

In the Stateside interview Clark said, "Last year there was 3,500 sales of single family homes. Only 462 actually received a mortgage."

Find out why banks are not making loans for homes in many Detroit neighborhoods in our interview above.