Wednesday, September 12, 2018 // The Statement
4B
Wednesday, September 12, 2018 // The Statement
5B

In a foreclosure crisis, Detroit residents

fight to remain in their homes

by Andrea Pérez, Statement Correspondent

I

n late August, Michael Andrews
learned his Southwest Detroit
home was in foreclosure. It came
into his family’s possession in

1963, but falling on hard times during the
2007 recession made it difficult to keep
up with his property taxes. The city’s
systematically flawed practices have fur-
ther created and perpetuated an oppres-
sive system nearly impossible for at-risk
residents to escape.

A yellow bag appeared on Andrews’

door twice in the past year. He recog-
nized that as an obvious sign of fore-
closure, but the following notifications
of the status of the home were ambigu-
ous and easy to ignore. His story isn’t
uncommon. Yellow paper bags appear on
residents’ front doors and mail is sent to
their address, but many don’t compre-
hend the severity of their situation due to
the legal jargon and confusing format of
the notifications.

It wasn’t until a United Community

Housing Coalition volunteer came to his
house that he realized how dire his situ-
ation was.

“I’m looking at (the notices) and it was

the first time I sat down to read them,”
Andrews said. “I started to read them

and I was like I seen October you know
and that’s how they do it in bold, so it
makes you think you have until Octo-
ber. I’m looking at the papers then I read
down below in the writing and I’m like
‘Oh wow.’ You’re right. I got to get down
here and do something.”

However, having lived in Detroit for

40 years, Andrews is committed to sav-
ing his family home.He sits in counseling
appointments with UCHC to see if there
is any possibility that he might keep his
home. When confronted with the idea
that he might be evicted, Andrews was
shock.

“I don’t know, I really don’t know,”

Andrews says. “As long as I’ve been there,
I have no idea what I would do. I pretty
much lost all my family. I’m just lost for
words because I’ve never been in this
situation.”
I

n the past few years, leaders of
the City of Detroit have made
countless
headlines
proclaim-

ing the city’s so-called comeback. They
point to the end of state oversight of the
city’s finances, the new Little Caesars
Arena, Ford’s Motor Co.’s purchase of the
Michigan Central Station and new con-
struction of homes and office buildings

around downtown and midtown as evi-
dence of the city’s resurgence. However,
the revitalization of these areas contrasts
with the reality of other city neighbor-
hoods. Far from downtown, trash builds
on corners, windows are boarded up,
streets remain dark through the hours of
the night and residents are being pushed
out from their homes by a tax foreclosure
process that over assesses the tax burden
for some of the city’s most vulnerable
residents.

According to Motor City Mapping,

111,167 Detroit properties went up for
foreclosure between 2002 and 2014.
With Detroiters paying one of the high-
est property tax rates in Michigan and
the second highest in the nation as of
2016, it comes to no surprise that already
steep taxes, coupled with an archaic tax
assessment process and persistent pov-
erty lead to Detroit’s immense volume of
tax foreclosures.

Filling a gap unserved by the city, com-

munity organizations, like the United
Community Housing Coalition, have
established programs to help thousands
of Detroiters at risk of losing their homes
to navigate the foreclosure process. Resi-
dents like Andrews use their services to

stay informed about the
status of their homes,
keep
up
with
their

payment plans and in
extreme cases, explore
last resort options.
T

he sound of
footsteps
and shuffling

papers can be heard
from the elevator on
the third floor of 2727
Second Ave. in Mid-
town,
where
UCHC

is housed. There is a
glass door at the end
of the hallway that dis-
plays their logo, and
behind it, the hallway
is filled with people
waiting their turn for
a word with the front
desk. UCHC counseling
hours for tax foreclo-
sure prevention started
a few minutes prior,
and everyone waiting

is here because their homes are at risk
of being taken away through formalities
of a system encompassed by racism and
bigotry.

The smell of a pot of coffee brewing

and the scent of dusty filing cabinets lin-
gers in the air. The walls are clad with
inspirational quotes, pictures and art
from Black historical figures, but that is

the last thing anyone was paying atten-
tion to. People sit, face between their
knees, some cradling their children,
with folders of paperwork in their hands.
Every chair in the waiting room is taken,
so people spill into the hall and take up
some of the chairs against both sides of
the wall. All the while UCHC staff runs
in and out of the waiting room and main
hallway, bringing people into individual
counseling rooms.

Bustling mornings like this are com-

mon at UCHC. The organization has been
committed to providing housing assis-
tance to low-income Detroiters since

1973, and this year is no exception. Oper-
ating at near capacity, UCHC will save
515 homes this year, including Andrews’,
from being sold in the auction through
their Right of Refusal Program.

The program permits at-risk Detroit

residents, previous owners or renters
alike, to stay in their homes. To do this,
they evoke the Right of First Refusal in
which the Wayne State Treasurer’s office
is required to offer the homes to the right
holder, which in this case would be the
person occupying the home before it can
open up a deal to other potential buyers.

Through buying the homes from the

Wayne County Treasurer’s office before
the bidding starts, UCHC is able to
acquire them for an affordable price and
offer their clients a fair payment plan.
This way, the person who occupied the
home before it was foreclosed is able to
remain in the property, and even better
yet, their tax bill starts anew.
A

s many as 25 percent of Detroit
properties went into tax fore-
closure between 2011 and 2015.

This crisis has affected the composition
of neighborhoods, displaced families and
changed the overarching atmosphere in
the city as many houses lay unoccupied
and blighted. The underlying drivers
for these foreclosures are disputed, but
prominent narratives don’t acknowledge
the role of the city and treasurer’s office
in enforcing laws that have long dispro-
portionately affected at-risk communi-
ties.

However, Bernadette Atuahene, a pro-

fessor at the Chicago-Kent College of
Law, argues the city of Detroit is over-
assessing the value of these properties
and foreclosing on them in an unconstitu-
tional manner.

According to the Michigan Constitu-

tion, properties need to be assessed annu-
ally and at no more than 50 percent of
their market value. Atuahene found that
Detroiters homes were assessed between
53 and 84 percent of their value between
2009 and 2015.

She suggests three reasons the city vio-

lated protocol. First, the assessor’s office
could be too short-handed to actually
assess the value of most properties in the
city, and assumed property values were
growing at an unrealistically high rate.
Alternatively, many Detroit residents are
unaware of the relevant regulations and
therefore fail to hold the city government
accountable. Finally, she raises the pos-
sibility the city found it easier to raise
revenues by illegally assuming its taxable
properties were more valuable than they
actually were, rather than withstanding
the political burden of raising tax rates.

“Given the (Detroit) property tax rate

is already one of the highest in the nation,
it may be challenging to get voters to
approve a hike,” Atuhene’s article reads.
“In contrast, Wayne County reimburses
Detroit for any property tax revenue that
it fails to collect; in exchange, the county
receives the right to collect the revenues

(with
penalties
and

interests) and to con-
fiscate the home if pay-
ment is not forthcoming
after three years of
delinquency.”
S

imilar to any
other property
owner in Mich-

igan, Detroiters get two
property tax bills in
the year. One usually
comes in the summer
and the other in winter.
The current year’s tax
bills come in the from
the city of Detroit, but
delinquent taxes or back
taxes that have accu-
mulated from previous
years are billed by the
Wayne County Treasur-
er’s office. When resi-
dents get a bill from the
treasurer, it means that
they are behind on their
taxes and the 18 percent
interest rate is already
accruing.

When delinquent or back taxes accu-

mulate for three years, a yellow bag is
dropped by the front door of the property
by the treasurer, signaling that it is in the
list of potential foreclosures. The county
offers a few options for residents to pay
back their delinquent taxes before their
home goes into auction, and some of the
most widely used are payment plans.

Payment plans like the Interest Reduc-

tion Stipulated Payment Agreement and
the Stipulated Payment Agreement allow
residents to pay back their delinquent
taxes in split payments with the interest
reduced to 6 percent. However, if resi-
dents fail to register for a payment plan
or if they fall back on taxes again, their
homes end up on auction.

As a last resort to collect the taxes owed

to them by the properties, the Wayne
State Treasurer’s office holds an annual
auction for the purchase of foreclosed
properties. This year, around 1,500 occu-
pied homes are up for foreclosure auction
— including Andrews’s — yet this number
is much lower than the 2015 peak when
9,111 occupied homes went up for sale.
Many of these homeowners or renters
experience financial and emotional diffi-
culties that inhibit them from keeping up
with their property taxes.

“Right now, I have been unemployed,”

Andrews said. “With my background,
stuff has been kind of hard to find
employment so I do whatever I can on the
side. Sparse side jobs. It’s tough just to
make ends meet.”

Living below the poverty line and try-

ing to stay current on all bills on top of
already high property taxes can take a toll
on residents like Andrews, who makes
less than $1,000 a month and would have
to buy back his home for a minimum of
$500.

“It’s stressful when, you know, you

have a debt and they send it and let you
know you’re always on it,” Andrews said.
“After I get this situated I’m going to go
file for bankruptcy for my first time. I’ve
never done it before, but I’m going to go
get that cleaned up and then I guess they
will start over my credits.”

Another lifelong Detroiter, Wesley

Mosley, is in a similar situation. She sits
in the counseling room at UCHC, vis-
ibly pregnant and glowing with joy at the
thought of finally having a girl after rais-
ing three boys. She tells the story of how
she recently married her husband just
released from prison, but the joy escapes
her eyes when the topic reverts to her
house. It is listed for the upcoming auc-
tion, as she has also found it hard to stay
current with her taxes due to unemploy-
ment.

“I got a yellow bag on the door, and that

was in 2016,” she says. “The house was
still under my sister’s name, but she quit
claim deed it to me because I had been
there since 2011.”

The state of her neighborhood, like

Andrews’s, has fluctuated throughout the
years. Her elderly neighbors have man-
aged to stay, but most other houses either
change owners often, are always on the
verge of going vacant or lay blighted.

Despite these circumstances, she is

also committed to saving her home. It is
the first home she has owned and where
she is raising her children. She has been
living in it for many years and is still con-
stantly trying to turn her “house” into a
“home.”

“Now I have just recently seen that over

the summer people are coming to look at
the homes that has been abandoned or
what not,” she said. “I don’t want my home
to be one of the homes that they look at, so

I try to stay on top of everything. It’s just
been hard being a single mother.”

Her home’s situation is why she is here,

but the outcome is still uncertain.

“I wouldn’t have no choice but to work

hard and try to get into another home, but
it’s going to be hard,” she said. “I know
I probably won’t get into no home until
about March of next year or something
like that when I have enough money saved
up to have a down payment. I don’t want
to have to go to no shelter with no new-
born baby and three kids.”

Andrews and Mosley are two of many

Detroiters who utilize the services UCHC
has to offer. They will likely get to stay in
their homes, but unfortunately, going to
a homeless shelter is a reality for others.
Out of 1,500 occupied homes that were
listed for the auction, UCHC was only
able to buy back 515. Those residents did
not have access to UCHC Andrews and
Mosley were will likely be pushed out of
their homes soon.

Even then, Andrews’s and Mosley’s

fights aren’t over. Every six months,
when their tax bills come and if they are
still unable to pay them despite being
informed and willing, they will be on the
foreclosure track again. After a year, they
might get another yellow bag on their
doorstep, and three years after that they
might find themselves at UCHC again,
wondering what they can do to stay in
their homes.

This cycle will continue to be a reality

until the city and county make concrete
efforts to reform how they assess proper-
ties values for taxes, and make genuine
strides to inform the public about the
status of their homes and options for pay-
ment. This cycle not stop until the gov-
ernment ceases profiting off the misery
of its constituents.

Alexis Rankin/Daily

The side of a building in Detroit, Michigan.

Alexis Rankin/Daily

An abandoned house in Detroit, Michigan.

“Every six months, when

their tax bills come and

if they are still unable to

pay them despite being

informed and willing,

they will be on the

foreclosure track again.

After a year, they might

get another yellow bag on

their doorstep, and three

years after that they

might find themselves at

UCHC again, wondering

what they can do to stay

in their homes.”