Detroit’s New Housing Playbook: Faster Permits to Build (and Fix) More Homes
Release Date: 03/16/2026
Michigan 2026 Primary Poll Deep Dive: Senate Race Wide Open
Daily Detroit
We break down fresh polling data from the With 36% of Democratic voters still undecided in the Senate race, this election is anyone's game. Plus, we get into the Republican and Democratic primary landscapes, examining Donald Trump's 85.9% favorability among GOP voters, Jocelyn Benson's commanding 58-point lead in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, and the tight three-way Senate race between Abdul El-Sayed, Haley Stevens, and Mallory McMorrow with a huge universe of undecided voters. The conversation also explores Gretchen Whitmer's potential role in the 2028 presidential race, as she's...
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Why Ferndale is Growing While Other Suburbs Are Shrinking
Daily Detroit
Ferndale is bucking the trend. While most of Detroit’s inner-ring suburbs are losing people, Ferndale has grown 1.3% since 2020 — outpacing every municipality that touches Detroit's city limits. We dig into new population data highlighted by the Detroit Free Press and ask what makes Ferndale different: walkable neighborhoods, a real downtown at Woodward and Nine Mile, a strong LGBTQ community, and a place where people say they feel safe because neighbors have their back. Here's a link to the piece we discussed: We contrast Ferndale’s urbanist-friendly density and sense of...
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Ice Cream Taste Test + How Noise Pollution Hurts City Birds
Daily Detroit
In this two-parter, we start with Detroit’s birds and end with Detroiters eating dessert. Science and snacks, basically. First up, we talk with University of Michigan alum and Defenders of Wildlife science and policy analyst Natalie Madden about a new meta-analysis on how urban noise affects birds. They get into what a “study of studies” actually is, why everyday city sounds can mess with bird communication, nesting, growth and reproduction, and what planners and policymakers can do to turn down the volume so common species like robins and sparrows can actually thrive in...
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Daly’s Restaurant Memories, Coffee Speakeasy, Boat Club & New Arts Center
Daily Detroit
Detroit’s Friday crew is back! We kick things off a hidden “speakeasy of coffee” called Sml Wrld Cafe on Gratiot in Detroit, and why now is the time to get your yard and urban garden in order. Plus, the historic Detroit Boat Club is on getting on track for a major revival into a public-facing hub with restaurants, events, and rowing education. Jer also checked out the new Cadillac Arts Center near Waterworks Park, with In Thicket Books, Take Me Home, and Bowerbird Home anchoring a growing Little Village arts district on the east side. On the west side, the guys mourn the end of...
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Detroit & Ann Arbor Development, Plus Science Center After Dark
Daily Detroit
Detroit’s downtown housing study is back, and the headline is clear: there’s still a lot of runway to grow. Norris and I dig into what so many potential new units really means and how incentives, red tape, and construction costs shape what actually gets built. Then we get into lessons from Ann Arbor’s plan to turn a parking lot into a library-and-housing hub, and what real urban density could look like in Michigan and Metro Detroit. After all, Norris hates surface parking lots in cities. Plus, we end on some joy with the Michigan Science Center’s adults-only Aurora Space Party this...
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Eastern Market: Feeding Detroit’s Bodies and Hearts
Daily Detroit
Eastern Market is best known as a Saturday tradition and Flower Day selfie spot. But it’s also one of the beating hearts of Michigan’s food system. In this episode, I sit down with Eastern Market Partnership president and CEO Katy Trudeau at TechTown to unpack how this 120-year-old market is adapting for 2026 and beyond. Katy explains how the historic sheds anchor a 24/7 neighborhood where live animal processing, wholesale distribution, breweries, restaurants, and nightlife all coexist — and why keeping the core of the district focused on food is key to its future. You’ll hear about...
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Detroit: Arsenal of Democracy Again? + New Poll Shakes Up Michigan’s Senate Race
Daily Detroit
On today’s Daily Detroit, we dig into a fresh Emerson College poll that shakes up the Michigan U.S. Senate race. If their numbers are right, the Democratic primary is suddenly a two-person contest, with Abdul El‑Sayed and Mallory McMorrow tied at the top and Haley Stevens slipping into third, even as more than a third of voters are still undecided. We talk through the big generational split driving those numbers, and reshaping the Democratic coalition, and why jobs and the economy are still the real deciders for that huge undecided block. We also touch on a few other topics in the...
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Detroit's City Budget, Explained
Daily Detroit
On today’s Daily Detroit, we unpack Detroit’s new $3 billion city budget that was just approved and what it actually means for people who live, work, and play in the city. I’m joined by and to walk through where the money’s going, what got reshuffled, and what that means on your block. We get into why the overall budget, approved in April of 2026, actually shrank by about $30 million this year, even as Detroit’s population ticks up. Mayor Mary Sheffield and council still managed to pass a balanced plan. It includes $30 million more for DDOT to boost bus driver pay and...
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Dearborn on the Rise: Hilton at Fairlane, West Warren, Greenways & New Housing
Daily Detroit
Today’s show comes to you from the Ford Experience Center in Dearborn, as Jer catches up with Devon O’Reilly at the city’s first‑ever Dearborn Development Day. They dig into the future of the former Hyatt hotel at Fairlane — now moving forward as a Hilton‑flagged property — with plans for 168 residential units, a mix of restaurants and entertainment, and a revived rotating bar at the top. From there, the conversation zooms out to Dearborn’s wider development push: the emerging ‘Midtown’ Fairlane area, West Warren streetscape changes, and new housing concepts around Lundy,...
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Why Are New Single-Family Homes So Rare in Detroit? (And How One Company Is Changing It)
Daily Detroit
On today’s Daily Detroit, Jer sits down with developer and to unpack what it really takes to build brand-new single-family houses inside the city limits. After all, there were only 19 permits pulled in 2024 in Detroit. We dig into the brutal math behind new construction: why a typical unit can cost $250,000–$400,000 to build, how the “1% rent rule” prices many Detroiters out of new apartments, and why at $2,500 a month most people start asking whether they should just buy instead. Temkin says Detroit has always been a city of houses, and that new construction needs to respect...
info_outlineDetroit’s recently elected mayor, Mary Sheffield, says the city is done making people wait on the city a month or more for basic home repairs and new construction permits.
In this episode, I take you inside the new four‑point “housing playbook” to speed up renovations and build more single‑family homes across Detroit.
You’ll hear how same‑day permits are supposed to work, why the city is betting on pre‑approved home design templates, and what that could mean for the hundreds of thousands of homes Detroit has lost over the decades.
If you're interested in the city as a contractor, developer, official, or most importantly, resident or someone who'd like to live here some day... you'll want to tune in.
Feedback as always: dailydetroit@gmail.com
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