White writer given free house in Detroit that was taken from Black woman and sold off without her consent
The IndependentThe latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. However, as she learned more about how the property arrived in her life, it came to feel more like a racist true crime story: the home had been sold out from under a 47-year-old woman named Tomeka Langford against her will, part of a trend in Wayne County of municipal authorities aggressively seizing homes from Black Detroiters and selling them at foreclosure auctions during the height of the financial crisis. That’s how she learned Wayne County considered the home foreclosed for being thousands behind on back taxes, seeming to defy a process that was normally supposed to take three years and involve multiple notices. It’s a story about the racial wealth gap, and how the median white American household accrues almost eight times the wealth of most Black American households.” City Council president Mary Sheffield is pushing the mayor and others for a full reparations programme for people kicked out of their homes. “We don’t just want to put a Band-Aid on it and not get to the core of what happened.” Housing advocates in Detroit have suggested giving displaced people tax credits, cash compensation, home repair grants, public housing vouchers, employment opportunities, or property itself from the city’s holdings.
Discover Related
