Detroit Evening Report: Duggan calls US Census ‘clown show’ after numbers report another population drop
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The Detroit skyline from Hart Plaza.
The federal government reports Detroit continues to lose residents in its latest figures.
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Recent numbers published by the U.S. Census Bureau estimate the city’s population is just over 620,000 as of last July, down around 19,000 residents since last official count in 2020.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan claims the numbers are wrong, tweeting that the U.S. Census Bureau has “become a complete national clown show.”
(1/3) The U.S. Census Bureau has become a complete national clown show.
Home prices in Detroit soared more than 20% last year as people moved back into the city. 25 new housing projects are now under construction across Detroit as the market struggles to keep up with the demand
— Mayor Mike Duggan (@MayorMikeDuggan) May 18, 2023
Duggan says the city plans to challenge the estimates, which could steer millions of dollars in federal funding away from Detroit. The mayor claims the Census Bureau’s statistics are at odds with U.S. Postal Service reporting last year that showed an increase of 2,300 residential homes in Michigan’s largest city.
The bureau rejected calls for adjusting the 2020 numbers despite city officials filing a lawsuit last September challenging the data.
Other headlines for May 19, 2023:
- City of Detroit launching housing resource hotline
- Detroit communities celebrate Native Nonprofit Day
- Ribbon cutting ceremony celebrates $750K renovation of Detroit’s Heckel Park
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