For the first time in six years, Samela Dean, an elderly eastside resident, doesn’t need to worry about snow or rain leaking into her bedroom and kitchen.
A few weeks ago, Dean was one of the first wave of residents accepted for the city’s $30 million “Renew Detroit” home repair program designed to keep Detroiters in their residences.
“There was a storm one time, a few years back,” said Dean. “It was a very, very bad story with rain, lightning and hailing. And my house is over a hundred years old. All of that was just falling down on my house and the wood was all rotten so it just caved in.”
For six years, the hole in her roof caused constant heavy leakage of rain and snow into her kitchen and bathroom. Dean, who lives alone and copes with mobility issues, said she made do with the cold by wearing layers of clothing and blankets. She used a bucket and towels to stop the water spreading under the hole in the roofing.
Eventually, the leaky roof caused mold growth and additional home damage to her floor tiles and plaster.
“I tried to save some money to fix it and anytime I saved, something happened, and I had to spend it,” said Dean. “I’m on a fixed income so it would take me a long time to save $20,000 plus for a roof. I was going to try but it never happened. Then, Renew Detroit came along and I got a beautiful new roof…with gutters!”
Last September, Mayor Mike Duggan and the City Council launched the American Rescue Plan Act-funded program which prioritizes low-income seniors and homeowners with disabilities and allows the city to triple its current home repair program.
When asked what led the city of Detroit to expand its home repair programs, Heather Zygmontowicz,
chief of the city of Detroit’s Special Housing Programs, told the Michigan Chronicle the large portion of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars allocated enabled the city to adhere to residents’ persistent calls to improve neighborhoods, particularly concentrating on home repairs.
A 2020 study by the University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions Center conservatively estimates more than 24,000 houses in the city are moderately or severely inadequate.
The most common housing quality issues cited by Metro Detroit residents include inadequate heating, exterior water leaks, signs of mice or rats and weak foundations.
Carried out in two phases, Renew Detroit is currently undergoing Phase 1 of roof and gutter replacements and repairs for the 2,000 applicants waitlisted for the Senior Emergency Home Repair (SEHR) program.
“When you have a city with older housing stock, sadly with low-income, and housing repairs being incredibly expensive, there’s no shortage of need,” said Dan Austin, director of communications for the city’s Planning, Housing, and Development department.
“There’s only so much the city can do to help out private homeowners. This ARPA funding gave us an opportunity to use those dollars where they are the most needed and repairing the greatest need, which for many Detroiters is home repair needs.”
The home repair program also seeks to provide job opportunities to Detroit-based contractors to perform the $30 million in repairs. Out of the program’s four contractors, two are Detroit-based and one is minority-owned.
In order to be eligible, homeowners must meet the following criteria:
- Age 62 or older or be a homeowner of any age with a disability.
- Approved for a property tax exemption through the Homeowners Property Tax Assistance Program (HPTAP), recently re-named the Homeowner Property Exemption (HOPE). The program is designed to provide property tax relief to eligible lower-income homeowners. For eligibility requirements and to apply for the HPTAP program, visit detroitmi.gov/hptap.
- Individual has not received a home repair grant from the city of $10,000 or more in the past 10 years.
“I really just want to drive home that this is part of the solution and not assuming that this is all of it,” said Zygmontowicz.
“ Some of the feedback we’ve received is that we aren’t getting to everyone fast enough. When we announced it last September, we said we are going to start work this fall and that’s exactly what we did. We are looking to attack the biggest problem and we want residents to understand that this is a really great first step in that direction.”
Rocket Mortgage’s Rocket Community Fund is a supporter of Renew Detroit’s housing stability initiative and is donating the program’s costs of a call center and hotline.
For Samela Dean and other residents, the roof and gutter repairs couldn’t have come at a better time — before the Michigan winter.
“For years, I couldn’t get warm enough under several onesies and two blankets. “Now I’ll only have my onesies on unless I want to,” Dean laughed.
“It’s like Christmas came early for me and the city of Detroit is Santa Claus!”
Renew Detroit is expected to complete the first 200 roofs by Fall 2022. The city will continue Phase 1 roof replacements throughout 2023 and 2024, with Phase 2 repairs following in 2024-26.
Phase 2 applications for Renew Detroit program for roof or window replacements are open until October 31. For more information, check out detroitmi.gov/renewdetroit.
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