Detroit celebrates $1B investment for affordable housing; new units coming to Corktown

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Over the past few years, the City of Detroit has celebrated many groundbreakings for affordable housing – and it's totaled up to $1 billion.

Mayor Mike Duggan and the city of Detroit are celebrating the housing investment that will bring 600 new affordable housing units to the growing area.

Over the past five years, Duggan and the city say they have invested $1 billion in affordable housing in to the city. Duggan says this is just another way that Detroit is rebuilding differently.

"There’s no place else in the country where – in their hottest development – they’re building 600 new affordable units and moving people of low income into the neighborhood. That’s what we’re doing here in Detroit," Duggan said.

The new unit is called Preserve on Ash and will be built at 14th and Ash in Corktown.

Tricia Talley is with the North Corktown Neighborhood Association and said the timing is perfect.

"There is a rebirth and I think think the timing could not be any better because all eyes are on Detroit," Talley said.

The groundbreaking is just the beginning of a three-phase project. Phase one will build 69 housing units with 48 of them affordable. Eventually, there will also be 5,800 square feet of retail space.

"There was community engagement for this development to determine what type of housing and what type of amenities the residents want to see in the neighborhood," Talley said.

Phases 2 and 3 are expected to add about 100 more units and construction on those phases should start next year

"Once you build the neighborhood around the people who actually love and stayed in the neighborhood… everyone else will come… you make sure their needs and wants are met… everything else will fall into place," Talley said.

The feds chipped in, too, with $30 million coming from a grant from HUD.