DETROIT, MI -- Mike Duggan wants to create a new Detroit neighborhoods department, implement aggressive code enforcement and streamline seizure, sale and demolition processes to address the city's tens of thousands of abandoned homes.

The former Wayne County Prosecutor who moved into the city last year and left the top spot at the Detroit Medical Center to run for mayor laid out a neighborhoods plan Tuesday night at Triumph Church on East Grand Boulevard.

The campaign of his opponent, Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, also hosted a gathering Tuesday night at his East Jefferson Avenue campaign headquarters, outlining his plan to assign a police officer to each square mile of the city.

Duggan's presentation focused on housing and his experience targeting drug houses and abandonment as a prosecutor.

He unveiled a 10-point plan built on establishing the new department with chairs assigned to each of the city's seven City Council districts.

He wants to crack down on factors that negatively affect neighborhoods from lawn neglect to squatters.

"These problems are not unsolvable," Duggan said.

And he hopes to create incentives to move families into vacant homes and businesses into vacant store fronts.

"We're going to seize the abandoned houses and drug houses like I did with the prosecutor's office and move families in, not just knock them down," Duggan said.

"We're going to create positive incentives so we can go to the areas where there's only a few houses per block and create incentives for them to move into those stronger neighborhoods."

Mike Duggan talks about his neighborhood plan 5 Gallery: Mike Duggan talks about his neighborhood plan

A pair of items Duggan proposed that could ruffle some feathers were charging a new fee for ownership of vacant lots and seeking to eliminate the second round of the county's foreclosure auction.

He said he wants people to be able to buy homes easily if they intend to take care of them, but that the annual auction is allowing the purchase of hundreds of lots by speculators for $500 each.

"We have a problem with people buying up lots at $500 with no intention of doing anything with them," Duggan said.

Supporter Shirley Johnson said Duggan's plan takes aim at one of the city's core problems.

"We've lost so many people, too many," she said.

Detroit lost about a quarter of its population between 2000 and 2010, after losing nearly half its residents over the prior 50 years.

"He's got a plan and he's going to do it," Johnson said.

Campaigners for Benny Napoleon on Tuesday also revealed more about his plan to install a community police officers on every square mile in the city of Detroit to assist with crime and "quality of life" issues. Read more here.



Follow MLive Detroit reporter Khalil AlHajal on Twitter @DetroitKhalil or on Facebook at Detroit Khalil. He can be reached at kalhajal@mlive.com or 313-643-0527.