Geographic Apartheid and the Homeless in Detroit

In recent weeks, some troubling accusations have been leveled against the city of Detroit's police force. The ACLU of Michigan alleges that the Detroit Police Department (DPD) is forcing the city's homeless who congregate in popular tourist neighborhoods into vans and bringing them to East Detroit and points outside the city limits in the hopes that they will have a difficult time returning to the popular destinations. These allegations are the latest in a series of "homeless dumping" concerns raised in Detroit and follow on the footsteps of controversial efforts in cities like New York to send the homeless out of the city by buying individuals and families one-way tickets to faraway cities where they can stay with relatives.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons 

At the center of the news of the disturbing treatment of Detroit's homeless population is a kernel of good news that may surprise the naysayers and connoisseurs of Detroit "ruin porn." This good news is related to tangible economic development and rejuvenation efforts in Detroit, particularly in the Greektown and Midtown neighborhoods, where both prosperous locals and tourists flock to galleries, trendy restaurants, and entertainment venues like the Greektown Casino. However, this nascent Detroit renaissance has come at the expense of those most in need in a city where hundreds of thousands of residents remain unemployed or underemployed and in need of livable, affordable housing. Quinn Klinefelter of WDET Radio in Detroit recently spoke with NPR's Celeste Headlee and provided more detail about the allegations, including claims that the DPD made homeless Detroiters empty their pockets of bus fare to prevent them from quickly returning to Greektown along routes that avoid many of the Detroit neighborhoods where panhandlers might be easy targets for robbery.

The DPD and U.S. Attorney's Office have stated that they have not yet received a copy of the specific allegation made by the ACLU to the Justice Department and will not respond to the allegations until they have more information. In the meantime the ACLU's allegation of "homeless dumping", in addition to raising questions about violations of Fourth and Sixth Amendment rights, present a startling example of what can happen when gentrification is predicated on the disenfranchisement of some of most vulnerable sectors of society and presents an opportunity to turn away from these practices and implement policies that encourage economic development and the renewed urban activity in urban cores like Detroit while meeting the demand for affordable housing units. These policies would better ensure that renewed urban fortunes can be enjoyed by a wider portion of the population and break away from the forcible separation of the homeless from the rest of the city in a geographic apartheid that amounts to mistreatment and violation of basic dues process rights and protection from unwarranted search and seizure.