I understand your point of view, but given the city is not a corporation but an entity that is supposed to provide basic municipal services to all of its citizens, services which it has struggled to provide due to a disastrous financial situation, I can't really agree with it. Detroit has struggled to provide such services for years now and just recently emerged from bankruptcy proceedings. It's not really in a position to just take what it can get when police, fire, and EMS response times are well above the national average and public transit can't meet its posted schedules.
From what I read in the article, at the very least Detroit needs to do a lot better job at communicating what is owed by property owners and working with them on payment plans. If the property owner can't pay, then Detroit should get whatever it can out of the property however the government sees fit.
"One of the things linking them: lack of information. Low-income homeowners are eligible for tax exemptions. While many residents would meet the requirements, they must file requests before their taxes are due, neither of which are readily known pieces of information, Mullane says. Owners can buy their homes back with debts cleared at auction for $500 as a solution of last resort."
It seems the problem is a lack of communication. It seems they don't know how much trouble they are in until they receive the foreclosure notice. The homeowner is welcome to bid on their house at auction, but if they are outbid then they are out of luck.
From the city's point of view it is better to try to get as much money back on the debt by auctioning the house instead of trying to settle at some arranged value with the debtor, which may be less than what they could get from two people trying to outbid one another. For example at the end of the article the debtor could only budget $1,400 for repurchasing his home, but he was outbid at $3,000.
Looks like they acquired proper licensing. The footer of the webpage states: "Hemingway™ is a trademark of Hemingway Ltd., used under exclusive license through Fashion Licensing of America, Inc., New York, NY 10001"
Fashion Licensing of America's site states that the company is the exclusive licensing agent for Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
From what I read in the article, at the very least Detroit needs to do a lot better job at communicating what is owed by property owners and working with them on payment plans. If the property owner can't pay, then Detroit should get whatever it can out of the property however the government sees fit.