By Elaine Rojas-Castillo ,
2 hours ago
Detroit launches "Project 1,000" aiming to build 1,000 new homes by 2031 02:12
For Daniel Washington, vacant land in Detroit's Northwest Goldberg neighborhood has already become part of its transformation.
In 2025, his team at Northwest Goldberg Cares began turning vacant lots into community spaces, including Retro Play Park. Now, the city wants to turn more vacant land into homes.
"Excitement, excitement, skepticism, but excitement. And when I say skepticism, I just mean how we're going to get there, and I think that today answered a lot of questions for us," said Washington.
The city says 84 new units in one- to four-family buildings were produced in 2024 and 114 in 2025. With the goal of building 1,000 new homes by 2031, Detroit wants the capacity to produce about 250 homes per year to meet the new target on time.
While the plan includes changing zoning rules for smaller lots, creating pre-approved home designs to speed up permitting, and bundling city-owned lots for development, those updates still need approval.
"I will say overall, our goal is to try to keep these homes as affordable as possible for everyday Detroiters and families in De...