Detroit’s Fight Against Housing Greed

In Winning a People-Powered Future, Roosevelt Institute President Elizabeth Wilkins emphasizes the importance of listening to people’s problems and aspirations, looking seriously at power in our economy, and making bold use of the tools that the government already has. That vision guided our team’s recent trip to Michigan, where Elizabeth joined students, advocates, and city officials to talk about economic democracy and corporate accountability (highlights from the trip included an interview on Michigan Public’s Stateside and a conversation with students at the University of Michigan).

In Detroit, the potential of this vision is manifest in the city’s landmark lawsuit against RealToken, a Florida-based private equity firm that turned hundreds of Detroit homes into digital cryptocurrency “tokens” sold to investors around the world. The company promised investors returns of 6 to 16 percent but, according to the city, left tenants in unsafe, unheated, and deteriorating homes—conditions that violated Detroit’s housing code and forced the city to intervene. 

In response to the city’s lawsuit, a court issued a temporary restraining order and then a preliminary injunction directing RealToken to comply with Detroit housing law and allowing tenants to withhold their rent until the company comes into compliance. RealToken apparently denies the allegations. Yet whatever the ultimate outcome, the case raises urgent questions about how speculative investments can hollow out communities and put profit over people.

Detroit’s lawsuit, led by Conrad L. Mallett Jr., is part of a broader local effort to reclaim housing as a public good, not just a profit engine. The task has become more urgent as large institutional investors now own one in five single-family rentals in some urban areas and private equity has snapped up 10 percent of the national multifamily rental market.

In the video below, Mallett reflects on what’s at stake for Detroiters when corporate power operates through digital assets and distant investors. The piece also features Roosevelt Board Member Keyontay Humphries in conversation with Elizabeth Wilkins about building people-powered solutions that put residents and workers first. Together, their perspectives capture the through line of Roosevelt’s work in Detroit and beyond: communities organizing to hold corporations accountable and to make the economy serve the public, not just corporate profits.

Watch the video below.