Detroit launches new city department to help residents find housing

[Airforceguy]

Detroit residents in unstable housing or at risk of being displaced will soon have help from a new city office designed to help people find affordable places to live.
The city's Housing Services Department, funded with $20 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars, will help residents at risk of immediate displacement find new shelter. It's part of a $203 million affordable housing plan laid out by the city last summer and includes 88 newly hired staffers who will provide case management help to residents. The city has said the full plan is one of the most comprehensive commitments to increasing the quality of affordable housing that the government has ever undertaken.

This piece helps people navigate the process of finding available housing, something Mayor Mike Duggan called "nearly impossible for most people" in a statement announcing the initiative. While he said new affordable housing is being built, and existing affordable units are being preserved, it's often difficult for people to figure out how to access it.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...ded-arpa-money

[401don]

Not sure exactly what these people will be doing but 88 sounds like a large staff.

[Zacha341]

^ Most government funded programs/ service providers are top-heavy. Hah!

[Danny]

The Coleman Young Administration did that practice long ago. And it ended up sloppy for the tenants.

[Richard]

Not sure exactly what these people will be doing but 88 sounds like a large staff.

Get paid $100k [[USD) a year to tell people to log in to Detroit.gov/affordable housing

They spent $16 million building a LGBTQ community center with housing and mental health services,I guess they figure the LGBTQ community has mental issues.

It’s free money so they have to figure out how to spend it,first thing is to expand government services employees.

What happens next is the $20 million will run out,then the taxpayers will be told what a wonderful program it is so they can justify raising taxes in order to keep it going,now you know why taxes are so high.

It happens all the time,cities get a chunk of cash from Uncle Sam and they implement feel good programs that they could never afford to do before then when the money runs out either they increase taxes or they shut the program down.

It’s hard to keep track off,maybe by design,first they were using funds to revamp land bank homes,part of the bond sale,now they say they need these funds for that.

You can read the whole 7 point affordable housing plan here

https://detroitmi.gov/departments/ho...-housing-plans

It is interesting how you can rent a remolded 3 bedroom house in Detroit for what it cost to rent a room in somebody’s shared house here with similar wages,you would think the last problem Detroit has is an affordable housing problem.

But then again the more socialized housing you have,the more money the city gets from HUD,so it is profitable to have an affordable housing program weather you need it or not.

It is free money after all,it just magically appears out of thin air.

The city has applied for and received funding for every socialized program under the sun,but zero when it comes to public transportation,how are they expecting the people that are going to live in that housing to get around ?

There is a bigger mobility problem then affordable housing problem.

[K-slice]

They need an office dedicated to getting people INTO the city. Shuffling around the same old people who already live here is just throwing money down the drain.

[JonWylie]

They need an office dedicated to getting people INTO the city. Shuffling around the same old people who already live here is just throwing money down the drain.

I agree, but I've always thought the priority should be three-fold. Keep people who live here, here. Keep renters and convert them to owners. Attract new people.

Probably different resources for those three different groups and not sure how they should be prioritized, but it seems like those should be the main 3.