by Scott McClallen
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and City Council members Mary Waters, Angela Calloway, and Latisha Johnson want to spend $203 million on affordable housing.
A seven-point plan aims to create a new housing division, renovate vacant apartments and Land Bank homes, and provide mortgage down-payment assistance using money meant to recover from COVID, as well as some state and local funds.
“This plan represents a true partnership between the City Council, this administration, and our community partners to get more affordable housing to Detroiters faster while improving the safety and quality of existing rental properties in the city,” Duggan said in a statement. “I believe the plan we have developed is one of the most comprehensive strategies for providing affordable housing in the country.”
- $20 million for Detroit housing services
- A new division will include at least six Neighborhood Housing Services centers run by nonprofits to connect Detroit homeowners with housing counseling and foreclosure prevention services. A new hotline will offer assistance for those facing eviction or homelessness.
- $20 million for the Detroit Housing Commission apartment building rehabs
- The DHC will use $20 million from the sale of the Brewster-Douglass site to acquire, rehab, and then lease 10 to 12 vacant apartment buildings at affordable rates of 30% Area Median Income
- $3 million for the Detroit Land Bank affordable home program
- About 20 to 50 homes owned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority will be sold to local community development organizations, which will use taxpayer subsidies to rehab the properties that will be rented for at least 10 years at 50% to 60% AMI rates with the option for the renter to buy the property and become a homeowner.
- $132 million to expedite affordable housing approval process
- The City Council will work with the Detroit Housing & Revitalization Department to streamline the process for Council to approve affordable housing developments that include units to be rented at 60% AMI or below. The current process often requires nine steps or more. The plan calls to fund of 1,600 new affordable housing units across at least 30 individual developments, with 250 of the units designated as permanent supportive housing with services available to ex-homeless Detroiters.
- $13 million for down-payment and homeowner assistance programs
- This program will help 600 Detroiters who currently rent become homeowners through a down-payment assistance program. A third of those helped will receive funding to transition to owning the homes they are now renting. The remainder will receive down-payment assistance to buy homes that they aren’t currently renting.
- $5 million to programs to bring more than 1,000 rental units into compliance with rental codes
- A second-floor rental rehab program will transform vacant second-story apartment units located in commercial corridors into affordable housing.
- $10 million for those facing rising rents
- The City of Detroit’s Detroit at Work program can help residents through immediate placement in good-paying jobs or in “earn to learn” programs, including literacy and GED programs.
DHC CEO Sandra Henriquez welcomed the program.
“We know that many for-profit developers aren’t tackling these smaller buildings of 20 or 30 units, so this initiative will restore these neighborhood eyesores that dot our city into beautiful, deeply affordable housing,” Henriquez said in a statement.
Detroit received $826 million of federal COVID money.
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Scott McClallen is a staff writer covering Michigan and Minnesota for The Center Square. A graduate of Hillsdale College, his work has appeared on Forbes.com and FEE.org.
Photo “Mike Duggan” by Mayor Mike Duggan. Photo “Mary Waters” by Mary Waters Councilmember At-Large. Photo “Angela Whitfield” by Councilwoman Angela Whitfield Calloway, JD – Detroit, District 2. Photo “Latisha Johnson” by Latisha Johnson – Community Advocate. Background Photo “Apartment Building” by Steve Morgan. CC BY-SA 3.0.
