DETROIT, Mich. — Mayor Mary Sheffield wants builders to put up 1,000 new homes on vacant Detroit lots by 2031, and she rolled out a citywide plan Wednesday meant to clear their path.
Sheffield introduced the effort, called Project 1,000, at an event in the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood. The city counted 84 new infill units of one to four homes in 2024 and 114 in 2025. Hitting the goal means averaging about 250 a year.
The first change targets zoning. Under current rules, new homes in some residential districts usually need a minimum lot size of 5,000 square feet with 50 feet of frontage. A proposal nicknamed Rise and Restore would loosen those dimensions so smaller parcels qualify without extra approvals. The City Planning Commission is scheduled to take it up Nov. 5, and with City Council approval the rules could be in use by early 2027.
The Housing and Revitalization Department and the building department are also assembling a library of pre-approved house plans, with the first designs due in early to mid-2027.
The city will bundle Detroit Land Bank Authority lots with subsidies for builders, testing the idea in North Corktown with federal housing money before two more requests for proposals in 2027. Public works crews, demolition teams and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department are set to line up blight removal and infrastructure work around the new housing.
Section: More Detroit MI politics news
Filed under: Detroit MI Politics News
