Detroit Evening Report: DDA fund to help increase affordable housing in downtown Detroit

Hundreds of new affordable housing units could be built in Detroit’s rapidly developing downtown over the next several years, according to Mayor Mike Duggan.

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The Downtown Detroit Development Authority (DDA) voted on Wednesday to approve final guidelines for a new financing tool for qualifying projects within the agency’s boundaries.

The demand for multi-family housing in downtown remains high.

If approved, the loan program would mark the first time the DDA would receive financial support for affordable housing downtown since it was created in 1976 by Mayor Coleman Young. Under the DDA program, loans would be available to developments where at least 20% of the residential units will be reserved for households making between 50-70% of the area median income.

That translates to a household income between $31,000-$44,000 for an individual, and $44,750-$62,650 for a family of four.

“We have a clear vision to create a city, including our downtown, where Detroiters of all income levels can afford to live side by side in the same buildings as people of much higher income,” Duggan said in a release. “This new fund gives us the ability to make downtown living accessible to Detroiters of all income levels.”

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