This story was originally published by Outlier Media. Property speculators have wreaked havoc on Detroit over the last decade. Some of the effects are easy to see: blighted properties that fall apart bit by bit for years.

This story was originally published by Outlier Media. Wayne State University was looking for a buyer for its shuttered Shapero Hall near downtown in 2007. The brick building from the 1950s once housed the university’s pharmacy program, but had been vacant for years.

This story was originally published by Outlier Media. Susan Newell remembers how her Detroit neighborhood emptied out seemingly overnight following the 2008 housing crash. Neighbors in Morningside, where she’s lived for more than 40 years, were forced out because they couldn’t pay their mortgage or tax bill.