Detroit’s Halloween of Burning Foreclosed Homes Spoilt

November 4th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosed Homes

Detroit would witness a massive affair on Devil’s Night (the night before Halloween) as hundreds of vandals and troublemakers would put ablaze all the abandoned homes in the neighbourhood. The city used to “burn.” But now Detroit’s Halloween of burning foreclosed homes will be spoilt by the thousands of citizens and law-enforcement authorities who will be patrolling the entire city’s neighbourhoods.

Luther Keith, executive director of ARISE Detroit, a partnership of many groups which make an effort to keep the city of Detroit safe during Halloween from fires and the like, said, “It’s unfortunate of course that we have to do this, but this is the hand we’re dealt”.

As the number of foreclosures increase, the rate of vandalism is increasing too. The vandalism reached its peak in 1984. Detroit reported 810 fires during a span of 3 days. These fires were of course started by the city’s increasing notoriety on Devil’s night, along with the fact that there were a huge number of vacant homes.

But the number of fires has definitely decreased since then – there were 147 fires reported last year for the three days from Oct 29 to Oct 31. This figure was comparatively higher than 2006 where the number of blazes reported were 113 and in 2005 where the reports said there were 121 fires.

This depreciation is of course thanks to the many volunteers and law enforcement personnel who patrolled the city’s neighbourhoods and kept a check on abandoned buildings, from the night of Oct 29. This has been referred to as the Angel’s Night since 1990.

According to reports by the foreclosure listing service, RealtyTrac Inc., Detroit was 14th on the list of hardest-hit metropolitan areas in the second last quarter this year. This year therefore, authorities are worried since they anticipate that the national foreclosure crisis, and a huge number of abandoned homes could tempt the mischief-makers.

Daniel Cherrin, a spokesman for Mayer Ken Cockrel Jr. said that above 35,000 volunteers had already signed up for the city’s Angel’s Night. Besides, roughly 50,000 people were ready to volunteer. The city of Detroit also imposes on itself a youth curfew and takes precautions so as to prevent any vandalism or fires.

Keith said, “It’s a testament to Detroiters that we understand that we have to be proactive. We can’t afford complacency by any means.”