The city of Detroit, Enterprise Community Partners, and University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions co-authored and published the buyer guide. The guide includes information, do-it-yourself checklists, and guidance on risks for before signing, at signing, after signing, and after paying the land contract in full. The guide and additional resources, including materials in Spanish, are available.

“Lawmakers can stop unjust evictions if they act urgently to enforce existing laws, make pandemic-era changes permanent and strengthen tenant protections.”

~ Alexa Eisenberg

Detroiters who received the economic stimulus payments were less likely to report that they faced major economic challenges within the last year. At the end of 2021, 13% of stimulus check recipients said they were facing major economic challenges, compared to 30% of people who did not receive the checks. 

The survey results suggest vaccination efforts have overcome some early wariness among communities of color, narrowing the vaccination race gap.

A representative survey from U-M’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study demonstrates that Black Detroit residents adopted these safety measures earlier than other groups. While 59% of Black residents were wearing masks at that point in the pandemic, only 38% of white residents and 35% of Latino residents were doing so.

Economic mobility projects led by Church of Messiah Housing Corp., Journey to Healing, Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, and Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency will receive technical assistance and $10,000 grants from Poverty Solutions at U-M.

If undercounts of a similar magnitude occurred in a majority of the city’s more than 600 block groups, the potential undercount could be in the tens of thousands.

While the city of Detroit recently announced a home repair program—Renew Detroit—that will distribute $30 million in American Rescue Plan funds as home repair grants to seniors with low incomes and homeowners with disabilities, gaps in home repair resources remain. 

The project builds on Tawanna Dillahunt and Julie Hui’s partnership with the Friends of Parkside to pilot a “community tech worker” program to assist seniors requiring technology-related support. Tech workers will be embedded at Jefferson East to develop a sustainable, useful model that will help bridge the digital divide for small businesses.