Reclaim Detroit is revolutionizing the landscape of Detroit. Founded in 2011, the organization’s primary focus is to divert as much material from Detroit’s 78,000 vacant structures from landfills as possible using a process called Deconstruction.
Since its inception, the removal of abandoned and blighted buildings has increased from a rate of 3,000 buildings annually to more than 10,000 structures this past year.
The organization, which hopes to change the way people feel about reuse, employs local residents like Lee Powels, an unemployed chef hungry to obtain new job skills.
After a 12-week training course, Powels was able to secure a skilled position in Reclaim Detroit’s mill handcrafting products available for purchase.
“It was a step toward my future success, which is working with reclaimed wood,” Powels said. “Now I am doing what I love to do and making a difference in Detroit.”
The Case for Deconstruction
The situation in Detroit and surrounding areas presents unique opportunities to intelligently respond to shifting land use patterns, the need for building materials resource recovery and reuse and the need to create sustainable green jobs. Reclaim Detroit fits well into Detroit Future City’s plan for an Urban Green Long Term Vision, which includes a focus on eliminating blight to stabilize neighborhoods, prioritizing areas around schools, through demolition or deconstruction of vacant structures — as well as turning neighborhood blight into a valuable economic resource.
Reuse is Key
Deconstruction, the careful taking apart of structures with an eye towards reuse, offers many benefits over standard demolition, and while the process is different, the end result is the same — a clean vacant site ready for development, according to developers.
Reclaim Detroit’s efforts not only help address the need for the demolition of houses in an environmentally sensitive way, it creates jobs and revenue from recycling materials into projects, furniture and artists installations, in addition to reuse in redevelopment projects.
BLIGHT
Reclaim Detroit is helping reduce the blight in Detroit neighborhoods which, according to Data Driven Detroit, jumped from 22.8 percent of the city’s housing units to 106 percent within a 10-year period.
Thanks to the organization’s commitment, abandoned buildings which once had an insidious effect on the social fabric of a community, are being deconstructed and used in more beneficial development efforts.
UNEMPLOYMENT
Despite improvements in Michigan’s economy, Detroit still reports some of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the metro Detroit area registered the highest jobless rate among all metropolitan areas in the country in December 2012 at 11.4 percent. While the national and state unemployment rates have decreased in the past year, the metro Detroit area has seen an increase in its unemployment rate. According to the 2010 Census, 68% of Detroiters are without a high school diploma, are unemployed or do not participate in the workforce.
Reclaim Detroit’s workforce training provides a stopgap to train and place participants in the kind of jobs that can lead to career advancement.
Specific training models include education in heavy machinery, carpentry and wood shop production skills, as well as training on advanced machines and equipment and demolition contracting.
ENVIRONMENT
Demolition, which was once the norm for blighted properties, is now no longer the only answer thanks to Reclaim Detroit, which focuses on salvaging as much usable material as it can out of blighted properties, saving landfill space and greenhouse gas emissions and improving neighborhood safety and well-being.
A VALUABLE MARKET
Local, state and federal government, non-profits, builders and developers, homeowners, architects, contractors and homeowners are all prospective customers for Reclaim Detroit services and materials, which often include hard-to-find vintage materials that cannot be found in today’s big box stores like antique rough sawn lumber, flooring, doors, windows and brick.
A recently signed order by emergency manager Kevin Orr makes possible for operations like Reclaim to provide any level of demolition/deconstruction work exclusively with its own crews, including trainees.
Reclaim Detroit’s collective efforts are reshaping the city and the conversation about the future of Detroit and its people.
Editor’s Note: To learn more about items available for purchase at ReClaim Detroit visit: https://reclaim-detroit.myshopify.com.
