A Study of Tax Foreclosures, Evictions and Health in Detroit, Michigan

Abstract

Drawing on the traditions of urban, health and creative geographies, this dissertation examines through three articles the various ways tax foreclosures and evictions in Detroit, Michigan are impacting the lives of everyday residents. Explored through ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2014-2016 are the cartographic visioning of real estate and the ways this facilitates housing dispossession, the use of a data matrix employed by the city to determine occupancy or vacancy of homes resulting in the demolition of one residents home, and the health impacts of extra-legal measures by housing speculators to evict former owners. Additionally, a contribution is made to the field of creative geographies with the inclusion, in one article, of a comic book summary of a case study. This dissertation proposes that the “revitalization” of Detroit is having profound and often unseen consequences for the lives of everyday city residents.