DETROIT - About 16,000 employees at five Detroit companies will be offered $4 million in loans and rent subsidies to move into the city’s downtown area under a program designed to rebuild the city’s residential base.
Officials with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Compuware Corp., DTE Energy Co., Quicken Loans Inc., and Strategic Staffing Solutions unveiled “Live Downtown’’ yesterday.
The program will provide the opportunity for young professionals “not only to work and play in Detroit, but also live in what is becoming an exciting, technology-focused urban core,’’ Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans, said in a news release.
The plan would stretch over five years and offer $20,000 forgivable loans to new homeowners and matching funds of up to $5,000 for exterior improvements to current homeowners. Renters would receive $3,500 over two years toward the cost of a new apartment. Current renters will receive $1,000 for a lease renewal in 2011.
In just a decade, Detroit’s population dropped by more than 200,000 people to 713,777
Associated Press July 26, 2011
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