DETROIT—The CBD here has gotten a great deal of recent notice as demand for its office space soars and new residents fill up multifamily developments located near downtown. But the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust has decided that its time to put some money into the surrounding neighborhoods. It will invest up to $30 million of pension money in the Detroit Neighborhood Home Repair Program and partner with a group of civic and community organizations to renovate up to 300 single-family homes that have suffered decades of blight.

"It is wonderful to see the AFL-CIO, an organization that played such an important role in building Detroit, investing to help build Detroit again," says Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. "This will create jobs and training opportunities to Detroit residents, and will do so much to strengthen our neighborhoods."

The trust will help acquire, finance and repair abandoned homes in the Detroit Land Bank Authority inventory utilizing union labor over the next three to five years. The overall goal is to design a sustainable model that others could replicate. In addition to the authority, its partners include the City of Detroit, the city council, Michigan Building Trades, Jim Jenkins, Jenkins Construction, as well as Building Detroit Futures and Southwest Housing Solutions.