It’s Not About Affordability — It’s About Availability

Detroit doesn’t have an affordability problem — we have an availability problem.

When access to opportunity and resources is blocked, prices rise, poverty deepens, and hope fades.

For years, the conversation has been about making Detroit more “affordable.” But that misses the real issue. You can’t afford what you can’t access. In too many of our neighborhoods, the basics — fresh food, safe housing, quality education, good jobs — simply aren’t available.

While the poverty rate in Detroit has escalated, the billionaires have gotten richer. The so-called economic terrorists—those who control the levers of our local economy—dictate who gets opportunity and who gets left behind. They shape development to benefit the few, not the many.

Food deserts force families to pay more for less. Retail redlining drives residents out of the city for essentials. Predatory insurance and lending practices keep homeowners and small business owners trapped in a cycle of cost and scarcity. Meanwhile, our test scores remain low and crime continues to rise—not because our people lack will or intelligence, but because we lack access.

Detroiters are not asking for handouts. We are asking for availability—for a fair chance to access what others take for granted. When you can’t find a grocery store within your ZIP code, when affordable housing is built somewhere else, and when the jobs go to those outside the city, “affordability” becomes an illusion.

If we want to close the wealth gap and lift our neighborhoods, we must:

• Make capital available to Black-owned businesses.

• Bring retail and grocery access back into our communities.

• Rebuild schools and job training pipelines so Detroiters can compete for 21st-century jobs.

• Hold developers accountable to invest in the neighborhoods they profit from.

Affordability without availability is empty rhetoric. Real progress begins when Detroiters can access the tools to build wealth, stability, and dignity.

Until that happens, the city’s growth will remain two Detroits—one for the wealthy few, and one for everyone else.

It’s time to reclaim our local economy, restore access to opportunity, and make availability—not just affordability—the measure of true equality.