> I live in an up and coming suburb of Detroit and every new apartment / condo building is incredibly skewed towards the high end.

>new

And what happens to the old units? They are sold and rented to the non-super wealthy.

I also live in south east michigan and my neighborhood is undergoing gentrification, they are tearing down 1000 sq ft homes and replacing them with 3500 sq ft homes.

What is the problem? I couldn't fit my large family(and renters) in a 1000 sq foot home.