December 7, 2014 | Detroit Free Press
LANSING — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan assured state lawmakers today the city of Detroit doesn’t want to give real estate speculators a break on the property taxes and interest they owe but is deeply concerned about 20,000 owner-occupied homes in the city that face foreclosure in the coming year.
Of about 62,000 Detroit homes facing foreclosure next year, about 30,000 are vacant, and “I have pushed the treasurer to foreclose on the vacant properties,” Duggan said. More than 10,000 others are rental properties, and “I don’t have a lot of sympathy for landlords taking rent payments and not making their tax payments.” [...]