Renters outnumber homeowners in Detroit for the first time in 50 years.
The latest estimates available from the U.S. Census Bureau show that about 53 percent of Detroit residents rent their homes.
The Detroit Free Press reports the foreclosure crisis of the past decade has seen tens of thousands of single-family houses in Detroit shift from owner-occupied to renter-occupied. The surge apartment living is also part of the shift.
Anika Goss-Foster is director of the Detroit Future City Implementation Office. She says the trend doesn't mean Detroit is on a downward spiral. But she says her organization is concerned about low-income renters living in poor-quality housing.
Goss-Foster estimates that state or federal housing programs provide subsidies to about one in five of the city's 130,000 single-family rented houses.
