Although Bargain Block promises to deliver affordable starter homes, it has been contributing to Detroit’s larger gentrification problem.
HGTV’s aspirational content can often conjure up some complicated questions about wealth and status.
And when it comes to Bargain Block, there is really no getting around the fact that the show hides its gentrification behind a façade of “doing good for the community”.
HGTV’s aspirational content
Although most of the viewers who tune in to watch a simple house-hunting or home renovation show on HGTV do not expect to be confronted with complex socio-political issues, there is really no way to avoid the geographic, political, social and economic differences that this channel inadvertently showcases through its content.
And whether you have found yourself pining over a dreamy second vacation home from your own rental property or simply found yourself wondering how a couple was able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars for their renovations, chances are you have found yourself considering more than just your bathroom flooring choices whilst watching your favorite show.
How Bargain Block romanticizes gentrification
Gentrification is quite a complex issue. It often includes the years of racial inequality, unequal resource deployment and loss of cultural identity which are exposed when working-class or low-income communities are displaced by an influx of wealthy individuals and property developers.
And although it would be unfair to say that Bargain Block’s two hosts, Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas, are solely to blame for the gentrification of Detroit’s long-established neighborhoods, the duo has masked one of the biggest issues plaguing the city with happy home owners.
Keith explained in a 2021 interview with Chris LaMorte from Estatenvy that the Bargain Block team buys as many houses as they can within the same areas in the northwest section of Detroit.
These houses are often on the verge of being demolished and can be purchased through the Land Bank for as low as $1,000 each.
The team’s first renovation in the area sets the “comp,” (a house which is used to determine the relative value of the rest of the area) after which the team tries “to raise the comp” with the next house in the area.
This strategy proved incredibly effective, and in 2021, one of the Bargain Block houses sold for $119,990, almost ten times what Keith and Evan had paid for it in 2020, with the help of their local Detroit real-estate, Shea Hicks-Whitfield.
And although just over $100,000 may not seem like a huge price to pay for a 1,364-square-foot home, the US Census Bureau found that the Median Value of Owner-Occupied Housing Units in Detroit between 2017 and 2021 was only about half of this figure, at $57,700.
The gentrification-versus-progress debate
Gentrification is a far-reaching issue which has many different aspects to consider, but one issue that always seems to crop up is determining where exactly progress ends and gentrification begins.
In terms of Bargain Block’s Livernois Avenue renovations, an argument could be made that the show simply took advantage of properties that no one else wanted and has given them a second chance.
Alyssa Strickland-Knight, the land bank spokesperson, has confirmed that Detroit residents were offered the first chance to buy some of these homes at an 80 percent discount – though this agreement failed to acknowledge the time and effort required to finalize new financing agreements.
Detroit’s gentrification issue extends beyond the northwest
Hicks-Whitfield explained in a 2023 interview with Bridge Detroit that the Detroit real-estate market is unlike any other market in the country.
She explained that “You can have a home that is $100,000 but across the alley there’s a home that went for half a million dollars.”
Unfortunately, this uniqueness is also exactly what has made the area so vulnerable. In fact, the Detroit Mayor, Mike Duggan, even announced in January 2023 that neighborhoods all across the city saw an average value increase of 20% in the span of a year.
This, in turn, resulted in tax increases for many longtime residents.
Bargain Block is not the only gentrification-happy show on HGTV
While Bargain Block’s focus on so-called starter homes marketed towards first-time homebuyers has opened the show up to a lot of criticism, it is not only HGTV which has been accused of raising property values.
Conrad Zbikowski examined this trend in a 2019 article, which posited that the renovations on the 13th season of the other popular HGTV show, Property Brothers, featured an average investment of 34.43% of the purchase price.
He also expressed that the first season of Windy City Rehab had seen properties’ value increase by up to 159 percent.
