It PAYS to LIVE in Detroit!

The $10 million program that gives living incentives for young professionals to move to Detroit's Midtown neighborhood is expanded north due to a lack of available housing.

If you or someone you know works for any of the 3 companies below, you can qualify for huge incentives to live in Midtown Detroit.

Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health Systems and Wayne State University each invest funding to the program. That investment has been matched by the Hudson-Webber Foundation and MSHDA. The Kresge Foundation also provides additional support for the program. Total funding for the first year will be $1.2 million. The 3 main companies are slated to continue to the program in years to follow adjusting where necessary.
Incentives for individuals to move to the Detroit Midtown area include:

• $2,500 allowance for new renters toward the cost of their apartment in the first year followed by an additional funding of $1,000 for the second year
• $1,000 allowance for existing renters who are renewing a lease
• $20,000 forgivable loan toward the purchase of a primary residence (if taken at one time), or $25,000 at the rate of $5,000 per year (if taken over five years)
• $5,000 exterior home improvement matching funds; for projects of $10,000 or more for existing homeowners

The incentives are only available to employees of the three anchor institutions: DMC, HFHS and WSU. To qualify for the incentives, housing units must be located within the boundaries that includes New Center, Midtown, Virginia Park and Woodbridge, and now the Boston Edison neighborhoods.

Development-focused non-profit Midtown Detroit, Inc. announced the Live Midtown program will now include the historic Boston-Edison neighborhood, which is generally bound by Linwood to the west, Woodward to the east, Edison to the South and Boston to the north.

The neighborhood, which is stable by Detroit standards but still has several relatively low-priced, historic single family homes for sale, is just to the north of the Northend, New Center and Woodbridge areas, which are also included in the Live Midtown program.

The Midtown neighborhood now stands at a 97 percent residential occupancy rate, according to Midtown Detroit, Inc.
“This expansion not only opens up an array of quality housing stock, but also supports the Detroit Future Cities Framework Plan which identifies this area as an important district to stabilize,” the non-profit said in a statement.

The Live Midtown and Live Downtown programs thus far have moved 1,600 people in to the city and helped another 1,000 to renew leases there, according to Midtown Detroit, Inc.