Rental unit demand is growing in Detroit

Rental apartments from Midtown to Corktown to downtown are filling up because more workers and students are choosing to relocate to Detroit. To date, 445 employees of Detroit companies have participated in the Live Downtown and Live Midtown programs that pay workers to relocate to Detroit or stay in the city. In the Midtown program, the Detroit Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System and Wayne State University offer employees either the cash for rent, a $20,000 forgivable loan for new homeowners or up to $5,000 in matching funds for existing homeowners to do exterior improvement projects of $10,000 or more. Midtown's housing dilemma is amplified by the growing number of Wayne State University undergraduate students choosing to live in Detroit, rather than commute from the suburbs. The university's roughly 535 apartment units have a 2 percent vacancy rate, said Tim Michael, chief housing officer at Wayne State University. WSU has no immediate plans for more, though Michael said he "wouldn't rule out" expansion during the next five years. "We want as many students to live in the Midtown area as possible," he said.