Stop Detroit Tax Foreclosures -- Sign Petitions Today

MWRO is working with local organizations to defend the right to housing and stop the nearly 75,000 tax-foreclosures scheduled to happen this year in Wayne County, Michigan, where Detroit is located.

Please help us get out information to people at risk of home tax-foreclosure due to incorrect tax bills with exaggerated property assessments and disputed water bill liens. Here's how you can help:

(1) Sign and share the online petition to the Wayne County Treasurer against the tax-foreclosures at http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50109/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=15875

(2) Call MWRO at 313-964-0618 if you are in the Detroit area and want us to mail (or email) a hard copy of the petition form to you to collect signatures from families and friends.

(3) Share information about free tax clinics in March for person in need of information on their housing rights and payment plan opportunities BEFORE meeting with Wayne County tax officials. The tax foreclosure clinics are coordinated by community attorneys at United Community Housing Coalition and the Detroit People's Platform. See flyers below.

We will update this information as it becomes available. For more information, contact MWRO at info@mwro.org or Aaron at the Detroit People's Platform at HomesForAll@DetroitPeoplesPlatform.org

Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign Video

Watch this "Taking Over, Taking back" video of the kick-butt work being done to reclaim foreclosed homes and neighborhoods by comrades in Chicago!

"Take Over" Film showing in Detroit, Feb 15, 5:30pm

You are invited to a FREE showing of the independent film "Take Over" -- documenting the 1990 nationwide takeover of federal housing organized by the National Union of the Homeless and the National Welfare Rights Union. It will be shown Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 5:30pm sharp. (Discussion to follow.)  MWRO office, 23. E. Adams at Woodward, 4th floor (at Central United Methodist Church). For more info, contact MWRO at 313-964-0618.

Coddle the Rich, Mistreat the Poor

This Sunday, The New York Times printed an opinion piece by Warren Buffet penned, "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich." The billionaire investor took the extraordinary step of outing fellow billionaires by openly acknowledging that his filthy rich class of friends receive such extraordinary tax breaks from the federal government -- many of which they didn't ask for and don't need -- that they think its time to give some back, pay a little more. He candidly states:

"These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places."

Nice friends, indeed.

Meanwhile, a recent study on the effects of the recession and national foreclosure crisis on the well-being of children found that their financial insecurity is resulting in long-term health consequences. Researchers concluded that "low-income children will likely suffer academically, economically and socially long after their parents have recovered," in part, due to unstable environments and often changing schools.

It's a travesty how services and assistance for low-income families continue to be slashed while mega-rich billionaires rake in tax breaks that they don't need or want. Sadly, the poor will always be scapegoats for greedy, postulating politicians looking to fill their own pockets.

We agree that Warren Buffet and his billionaire friends have been coddled long enough and they should pay their fair share of taxes. But theirs is no crisis of conscience. They know history and the consequences that ensue when poor people continue to be mistreated, suffer and grow desperate. London knows this well, too.

Image from janinsanfran, Creative Commons

Video: Despair, revival in Detroit , Part 1

Please check out this two part series from Al Jazeera's Fault Lines program May 14, 2009, Despair, revival in Detroit.

Journalist, Avi Lewis, interviews GM executives along with MWRO Chair, Maureen Taylor, and other local residents, activists, and workers. It's a great overview of the automotive industry collapse where Detroit was once "Ground Zero" of the automotive world.

One portion of the report includes a tour by Maureen Taylor of low-income housing that was torn down to make way for sporting facilities and casinos: "They call it urban renewal, we call it urban removal!"

There are also great interviews with Bobbi Thompson, Grace Lee Boggs, Ralph Nader, and other local and national figures. Check it out!

Wake The Hell Up!!

‘CIPIENTS SPEAK
by Maureen D. Taylor
State Chair, MWRO
May 2009

On Thursday, May 14th, 2009, most Americans woke up to the grim news that in order for Chrysler to save itself, 25% of the current dealers needed to be sacrificed. Some 789 Chrysler dealers were on a list to be closed, some as early as June 9th, after having served the master for decades. Never mind the hundreds of thousands of new families who are now facing unemployment, never mind the many community programs underwritten by these dealerships over the years, never mind the feeder businesses near by who rely on the traffic created by these car dealers - with one swipe of the pen, they will soon be “toast!”

Next comes the dreaded list issued by General Motors who will name the fate of thousands more GM dealerships that must close to save GM. All the while these horrific announcements are being made, a psychotic Wall Street reacts by closing higher, happy at the news that the Big Two are being saved by the sacrifices of millions. Is there not something insidious, sick, and diabolical about these happenings?

Perhaps what is most disturbing is the ease in which millions of car-related workers accept the premise that for America to be better, they must starve, lose healthcare, have homes taken from them, and in other ways stand “mute” while their very lives are being wrecked. The incomes offered to the next generation of workers is woefully lower than what their predecessors earned and will not allow the purchase of these hi-priced cars of the future.

The question is, where are the blue-collar and no-collar visionaries who have the answers to these current economic issues? Welfare Rights firmly believes that the solution to this deepening crisis is not to be found in the direction which we are all being pushed that calls for us to lose everything for the sake of the company. Don’t our lives and the future of our children count? Every response to the growing international crisis is one that suggests that we must bear the pain…closing schools, reduced wages, loss of retirement funds, loss of retiree health coverage, mounting foreclosures, rising domestic violence, rising suicide rates among children and veterans, rising incidents of police brutality…all things connected to rising stress levels. What do we get for our pain?

The time to bring up new ideas is now. The time to suggest a new and different course of action has arrived. The 6.5 million workers who now receive unemployment benefits must soon decide what is to be done when that last check arrives and a job has not been secured. The only answer to this greed-driven, corporate crisis is to engage in building an organized society that rests on certain foundations. People must eat, no matter what. People must have access to clean drinking water, no matter what. People and families must have homes to raise children in, no matter what. Elders deserve respect and a level of comfort, no matter what. We take care of sick people, we educate children so that they can make wise decisions as adults, we care for animals, and we live our days to serve a higher cause that includes kindness and concern.

The time has come to make a choice – “which side are YOU on?” Massa won’t let you live with him, so we must live without him. Wake the hell up!

People's Summit Takes On National Business Summit

From June 14-17, 2009, the People's Summit will take on the nation's CEO's and major corporations as they come to Detroit for the National Business Summit. Over two dozen of the nation's richest corporate leaders will be meeting to discuss how to increase their bottom line. But what they won't be talking about are the massive home foreclosures and evictions in Michigan, or the historic 22.2% unemployment rate in Detroit!

Corporate lay off kings and millionaire capitalists from Conoco-Phillips, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Chrysler, Humana Inc, Ascension Health, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, BNSF Railway Co, and more, will meet at Ford Field with government officials to set their economic course for the next few years.

But while the people of Detroit, and other hard working and unemployed men and women across this country are shut out of these meetings, a parallel "People's Summit and Tent City" will take place adjacently at Grand Circus Park.

Local and national participants in the People's Summit will draft a "People's Stimulus Plan" and an "Economic Bill of Rights" that recognize the needs and decisions of working class and poor people. Make your plans to be there for these three days of discussion and active resistance!

For more information, contact Moratorium Now! at (313) 680-5508

Activists Help Foreclosed Families Retake Homes

In November 2008, the MWRO blog discussed the federal and local governments approach to the Detroit foreclosure crisis: bailing out banks, evicting families from their homes, and then demolishing good homes to make way for gentrified neighborhoods and more strip malls! In this story, we learn more about how comrades and other housing activists are helping families keep a roof over their head in foreclosed homes, instead of overcrowded shelters or on the street!

Excerpt reposted from the New York Times. Read the full story, "More Squatters Are Calling Foreclosures Home."

...In Minnesota, a group called the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign recently moved families into 13 empty homes; in Philadelphia, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union maintains seven “human rights houses” shared by 13 families. Cheri Honkala, who is the national organizer for the Minnesota group and was homeless herself once, likened the group’s work to “a modern-day underground railroad,” and said squatters could last up to a year in a house before eviction.

Other groups, including Women in Transition in Louisville, Ky., are looking for properties to occupy, especially as they become frustrated with the lack of affordable housing and the oversupply of empty homes.

Anita Beaty, executive director of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, said her group had been looking into asking banks to give them abandoned buildings to renovate and occupy legally. Ms. Honkala, who was a squatter in the 1980s, said the biggest difference now was that the neighbors were often more supportive. “People who used to say, ‘That’s breaking the law,’ now that they’re living on a block with three or four empty houses, they’re very interested in helping out, bringing over mattresses or food for the families,” she said....

(Image courtesy of the New York Times)

Poor People's Activists Protest Foreclosure Sales

A coalition of activists in Minneapolis, MN, demanded an end to home foreclosure sales last week by attempting to stop the sale of homes owned by low-income people or occupied by similar renters. Hennepin County Sheriff Deputies allowed only three protesters into the courtroom for the procedure. When one of the activists bid 'a penny' for one of the foreclosed homes, she was forcibly thrown out of the courtroom.

Other activists chanted protest slogans and songs, and later instituted a sit-in at the Hennepin County Sheriff's office. After insisting on a meeting with the Sheriff, a group of them was escorted to a private room meeting to meet with a deputy and county commissioner. (The Sheriff was out of town.)

The group announced that following this meeting, all parties would sit down within two weeks in an official meeting to review the foreclosure and eviction process, and determine how to make it better, within the law.

The action was organized by the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, ACORN, Economic Crisis Action group, Homes Not Jails and the IWW. See the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign for more info.

Bail Out The People — Not The Corporations

(reposted from the People's Tribune, March 2009)

Over the past year, more than 2.2 million homes have been lost to foreclosure, a record number. Some four million jobs have vanished, and jobs continue to be lost at the rate of about 650,000 a month. One American in three has suffered a job loss or a pay cut in their household. Those once stably employed are becoming destitute, and those who were already destitute are dying.

The question on everyone’s lips is, what is our government doing to stop the ongoing economic catastrophe that threatens us all? What should it do? Where do the interests of the people lie?

As this issue of the People’s Tribune goes to press, President Obama has signed an economic stimulus bill which, we’re told, will create or save a few million jobs and expand public assistance to the unemployed, among other things. The government is also pondering how best to bail out the banks, arguing that helping the banks will restart the flow of credit and help get the economy going again. And the administration announced a $75 billion foreclosure-prevention plan that it says could help up to nine million homeowners keep their homes.

We should be on guard. We should ask ourselves, what actually needs to be achieved? The end result of the government’s intervention should be to guarantee the necessities of life for anyone who is doing without them. If this isn’t happening, then we need to demand that the government do what is right.

The underlying cause of the crisis is that more and more production is carried on with less and less labor, because of the introduction of labor-replacing technology into the economy. This technology has wiped out jobs and driven down wages for those still working. Because people with low wages or no jobs buy less, the market for goods and services is being wiped out. As the market has been undermined, the economy was kept going with debt – the massive extension of credit to workers and businesses. Credit was also used to fuel a huge orgy of speculation in stocks, bonds, credit default swaps, mortgage-backed securities and all sorts of exotic financial instruments that really had no value. On a temporary basis, this speculation brought huge profits to the financial sector.

This house of credit, debt and speculation has been standing on a “real” economy that has been hollowed out by labor-replacing technology. Eventually the debt-based bubble had to burst, and now that it has, the real economy is falling to its true level.
In the short term, what is needed is to nationalize large parts of the economy, such as the banking system, in the interest of the people, not the corporations. We should be nationalizing the assets of the corporations—not their risks—and putting those assets to work in such a way as to guarantee every person has access to housing, health care and the other necessities of life.

In the longer term, we are going to have to decide whether we’ll have a society that serves the majority of the people, or a society organized to serve only the wealthy few. Either the people are going to have to take the corporations over and run them in society’s interest, or the privately owned corporations will decide whether the rest of us live or die. This is the ultimate question we must answer.
(Image courtesy of the People's Tribune)

Will Housing Stimulus Funds Help Michigan?

Michigan remains among the top five states with homeowners in foreclosure or late in their mortgage payments. Along with California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, Michigan has had some of the sharpest increases in delinquent loans over the past 90 days.

Many have hoped that President Obama's $275 billion housing stimulus bill would help struggling families but it seems many in Michigan won't qualify for mortgage relief. The funding is too narrowly tailored and many low-income Michigan homeowners have loans outside of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Lenders such as Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and GMAC Financial Services would also have to agree to comply.

The federal government is setting up a new website where (among other things) homeowners can find out if their loans qualify for housing stimulus bill assistance. However, still missing from legislation and all of the surrounding conversations is a concerted effort by government and banks to stop the tidal wave of foreclosures for low-income homeowners.

MWRO calls once again for moratorium on home foreclosures for low-income and working families! They need an opportunity to retain their homes while they work out other arrangements, jobs, and funding sources. Moratoriums can help not only these homeowners but the surrounding communities. The Michigan Moratorium Now Coalition offers Resources for Fighting an Individual Foreclosure.

It's time there was more assistance and effort being made to help struggling families keep what little left that they have. Housing is a human right!

(Image from Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs - Michigan blog)

Foreclosed Property Renters Facing Homelessness

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) released two reports today about the increasing homelessness of renters in foreclosed properties. They have compiled data on all 50 states and DC and found that 40% of all families facing foreclosure due to eviction are renters.

They point out that state laws vary greatly and are complex when it comes to renters and foreclosures. Renters have little protection and may be evicted with little or no notice, if a landlord loses the renter's home.

Among major findings of Without Just Cause, a 110-page report prepared by NLCHP in collaboration with the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) are:

* Only 33% of States (17 States) require any type of notice to tenants.
* Only 29% of States (14 and DC) require a judicial process for foreclosure.
* In several states (e.g. FL, IO, WI, NY, OH) tenants may remain only if they are not named in the foreclosure proceeding.
* Only 2% of States (NJ and DC) explicitly preserve tenants' rights in the lease after foreclosure.

The second report, An Ounce of Prevention, highlights homelessness prevention programs in 25 states.

In Michigan, the Without Just Cause report states:

Eviction Process
Notice must be provided, “Notice to Quit / Termination of Tenancy”, giving tenant 30 days to vacate. Tenant is then entitled to a hearing; if tenant does not vacate at end of 30 days, tenant must be served with summons and complaint. If the landlord prevails at the hearing, then the tenant must move within 10 days. If the tenant does not move, a writ of restitution can be issued, which provides for immediate physical eviction (no notice).

Eviction Timeframe
4-6 weeks from date tenant receives Notice to Quit to day sheriff physical evicts tenants.

In addition, State Senator Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) has introduced a bill that would stop all mortgage foreclosures and evictions for 2 years. Please contact your elected representatives to safeguard the homes of renters and homeowners!

Homeowners Say "Produce the Note"

Apparently those three little words are enough to delay the foreclosure of your home by banks. ABC News reports that homeowners on the brink of foreclosure and eviction have managed to get themselves more time by filing a paper that requires their mortgage holding bank to show them a copy of the note they signed.


Part of the banking and mortgage calamity is a result of mortgage companies and banks selling then reselling homeowner mortgages. Along the way, banks often lose track of the original paperwork. If a homeowner files a Request for Production of Documents form in court, judges will often side with the homeowner during foreclosure proceedings and require the lender to show a copy of the note before they can continue.

This delay tactic is being used by many homeowners across the country to help save their homes and allow them more time to gather the money they need or find a new job. With nearly 9,000 foreclosure filings per day, this tactical delay often forces banks to find the original paperwork--a process that can take months--to prove that the foreclosing lender owns the note, and that the homeowner owes the debt.

Consumer Warning Network is a grassroots group that offers advice and information for homeowners at risk of foreclosure and "Produce the Note" tactics. [MWRO found their site to be down as of this posting, perhaps their server was overloaded.] Additional information can be found at Associated Content.

Don't allow lenders to carry out an improper foreclosure on your home! They count on people to not understand the process and to give up. Know your rights and fight on!

Detroit's Neighborhood Parcels of Land

A recent study by the University of Detroit Mercy estimates that 30% of vacant parcels across the city amount to nearly 40 square miles--enough to fit the cities of San Francisco, Boston, and Manhattan in Detroit's boundaries. The study's author also believes that it will take another generation (at least) before there will be enough people in Detroit to repopulate these areas.

In the meantime, a variety of proposals are being put forth for how this land can be used: urban gardens, reforestation, playgrounds, new housing, shopping centers, and other plans by the Detroit Planning and Development Dept.

Yes, large and small neighborhoods across Detroit are filled with empty and abandoned parcels of land. Some belong to local residents and governments, and others have been purchased by outside banks and developers who see the severe Michigan economic hardship on families as a profit bonanza. A few more of the vacant lots have turned into dump sites for people who leave behind their bulk trash because of the city's inferior trash and recycling program.

However, a good number of these plots have been adopted by adjacent neighbors. Many have already been turned into unofficial community gardens, extended yards, open BBQ picnic areas, and informal playgrounds. Some homeowners try to purchase these vacant residential lots but who has the extra money and time these days for that lengthy process?

The upcoming Detroit mayoral elections are going to be filled with many candidates claiming to have the best ideas for managing these neighborhood pieces of land. Many of the ideas will also be backed by banks and developers who know nothing about the people and history of the neighborhoods. MWRO believes local residents and neighborhoods should have a significant voice in how these vacant lots are used or maintained, and politicians should be ready to listen.

Families, Children And Elders In Poverty Ask Congress For A $1 Billion Bailout

[reposted from
People's Tribune]

By Poor News Network

“Thousands of families, children, and elders in poverty are barely subsisting in this country, while thousands of others are struggling to stay housed after having their houses foreclosed on. If we were given even $1 billion of the $700 billion bailout being offered to corporations, we could bring hundreds of families permanently out of poverty,” said Lisa Gray-Garcia, author of Criminal of Poverty, Growing Up homeless in America and co-founder of POOR Magazine and PoorNewsNetwork.

Lisa and many other very low-income and poor families, youth, and elders publicly released this plea to Congress recently to reconsider the $700 billion bailout and consider giving at least $1 billion to families, youth and elders in poverty.
“Why is it that so many of us are struggling to survive on less than $5,000 a year and congress is considering bailing out these multi-million dollar corporations?” asked Vivien Hain, unemployed mother of three struggling with poverty.

“As poor people we have created solutions to poverty such as permanent housing based on a sweat equity model, all it would take to launch is $1 million!” said Michael Crutchfield , unemployed father of two.

As Congress decides on this extremely expensive bailout, poor people across the nation watch in disbelief. Shelters are closing, state budgets are being slashed, services for the poor are being closed and people’s homes are being lost to foreclosures.
“When poor people ask for help, we are called bums, stupid, lazy and blamed for what got us into poverty. When these high profile panhandlers ask for money they are given $700 billion”, concluded Lisa Gray-Garcia in the statement to Congress.

Poor News Network
Resisting Poverty Through Media, Education and Art
Image: Tony Robles and Tiny at POOR Magazine’s Take Back the Land Ceremony/Eviction Protest in San Francisco. PHOTO/POORMAGAZINE.ORG

Poverty Statistics in Michigan

Like everyone else, we're reading the news and trying to keep up with what's happening. But along the way MWRO notices that a lot of statistics in Michigan are increasing.

Here are some examples:

• In October, the Michigan's unemployment rate was 9.3%, the highest level since July 1992;
• 1 out of 5 Michigan residents live in or near poverty, including 500,000 children;
• 1 in 3 Detroit residents is poor making it the poorest large city in the nation;
• 47.8% of children live below the poverty line in Detroit;
• Between January-May 2008, DTE reported a 56% increase in shut-offs for non-payment;
• 77,900 jobs were cut in Michigan from September 2007-2008;
• In home foreclosures, Michigan ranked 7th nationally with 1 in every 396 homes receiving a foreclosure filing, in Detroit foreclosure filings were 1 in every 68 homes;
• The Michigan Dept of Corrections is the largest state program and accounts for 20% of the state's budget [PDF];
• Michigan has the 11th highest incarceration rate in the U.S. (more than Canada and Mexico);
  
• 44% of Michigan adults read at a 4th grade level or below;
• 1 in 8 Michigan residents receive Food Stamps; and
• More than 1 in 10 Michigan residents will need emergency food assistance.
  

For some readers, these statistics may be shocking but for poor and low-income workers in Michigan they mean day-to-day life is difficult and miserable!

The $700 billion bailout for Wall Street banks is offering nothing to uplift this economy, nor does it appear that it will help protect any more automotive sector job losses. Moreover, the $47.1 billion from HUD to Detroit for lessening the impact of foreclosures on hard hit communities seems destined for the coffers of more unscrupulous banks and greedy developers.

The recession in Michigan has been going on much longer than in other parts of the country, at least since 2004. In Detroit, the impact has been felt the hardest by the city's most vulnerable groups--children, seniors, single-mothers, ex-offenders, homeless, disabled, welfare recipients, immigrants, and those poorly educated.

It seems around every corner there is a new problem or a new vulture waiting to take what little you have left. Poor people are resilient...finding ways to make something out of nothing, and sharing what little they have with others in need. But low-income and poor families need to do more to make their voices heard! We are the majority--a majority who has a right to the same quality of life that is enjoyed by others across this state and country.

Now is the time to stand up and fight for the things we need to survive...to fight for our human rights!

(Image from Flickr Creative Commons)

"Bail out the People, not the banks!"

In two days, on November 20th, Detroiters will have their last chance to comment on how the City of Detroit will spend $47.1 million from HUD. "What?!" you say, that's right because on November 21 it goes to City Council for a vote, then it's off to HUD for a December 1 Action Plan submission.

So, here's our quick review of this:
In July 2008, Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act to address the impact of foreclosures in communities hardest hit by the crisis. Later that month, new HUD Secretary Preston announced in Detroit, "the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis," that the federal government was launching an aggressive foreclosure prevention assistance program to buy bad loans from lenders. The following month, the Detroit Economic Growth Association hired staff and opened the Office of Foreclosure Prevention to ready itself for these funds. [We can't find its website or location!]

Meanwhile, the Detroit Planning and Development Dept, developed a Neighborhood Stabilization Plan (NSP) partly based upon HUD's guidelines but with an emphasis on demolishing homes. The NSP Executive Summary states:

It is important to note the strong focus on demolition activity in the plan, which accounts for approximately 50% of the total award amount. Due to the number of vacant properties, duration of vacancy and the market conditions, eliminating blighted structures in the target neighborhoods for future development or alternative land uses will have a tremendous stabilizing impact. Priorities for demolition will include structures adjacent to development projects nearing completion, and concentrations of blighted, vacant properties.

We agree that dangerous and abandoned homes in Detroit need to be cleared for neighborhood safety and quality of life matters. But the NSP, along with demolition businesses, banks, and others want to clear huge parcels of land for new development with new residents. Nowhere do they mention the option of creating Detroit jobs that will lead to home stabilization and neighborhood security.

Many of the homes they propose to tear down are good homes in need of repair. The residents who moved out were hard working men and women who lost their jobs, lost their pensions, died in debt from medical and utility bills. In the effort to save their home, they often took out loans from unscrupulous predatory lenders, got involved in foreclosure rescue scams, and lost their homes in reverse mortgages. Rather than tear down these homes, hire Detroiters to fix them, paint them, landscape them, furnish them, thereby providing every manner of work and community pride!

Councilmember Joann Watson's Housing Task Force met on November 6 with Moratorium Now members who condemned the NSP and demanded that these federal funds be used as designed--to assist families in foreclosure, fix up vacated homes, and resettle families in them! The Michigan Citizen reports this in a November 15 story, "Demolition or Repair?"

MWRO also calls for these federal foreclosure assistance funds to be used as intended: to protect against more Detroit families losing their home, to safeguard and rehabilitate existing low-income housing; and not to be used at the pleasure of banks, developers, and officials looking for more easy money at taxpayer expense!

Read the City's Neighborhood Stabilization Plan Executive Report (and full report), along with a map of the Detroit Target Communities that are selected for assistance. Submit your comments by November 20...call 313-224-6380 or email NSP@detroitmi.gov

(Image from Flickr Creative Commons)

Poverty Summit Party Crashing

Today in Detroit, there are three events of concern to us...and we were invited to two of them. Working backwards, we're attending two evening events with great community organizations: United Community Housing Coalition (UCHC), and Detroit Summer.


UCHC is holding an annual fundraising dinner for their work to help low-income homeowners fight mortgage foreclosures. The youth organization, Detroit Summer, is beginning their Breaking Bread Action Series with speakers, music, videos, and a community action. We'll be there with bells and whistles to help these stalwart groups with the amazing work they do in our communities!

Earlier in the day, we'll be attending the Poverty Summit organized by the State of Michigan...but not because we (or other poor people's advocacy groups) were invited. In fact, at the last minute, MWRO was asked by a participating union leader to join a panel after discovering welfare rights was not included in this social service soirée at Detroit's downtown convention center. The Governor will be there along with hundreds of poverty-concerned bureaucrats, academics, faith-based funding organizations, and welfare-to-work contractors. The only ones who won't be there are the victims of poverty!


Welfare rights is not new to the "we forgot to invite you" game. But when the so-called leaders on poverty solutions are in your backyard, it's an added insult to the people who suffer daily from decisions made by well-dressed people in banquet halls.

So, we'll be there today and we'll report back tomorrow on what transpired. And to our friends at UCHC and Detroit Summer, we can't wait to see you!

UCHC Annual Fundraising Dinner & Silent Auction, 5:30pm
Central United Methodist Church, 23 E. Adams St, Detroit
Suggested donation: $20, or whatever you can afford

Detroit Summer "Breaking Bread Action Series," 6pm
CCNDC, 3535 Cass (No. of MLK Bl), Detroit
Bring a potluck dish.

(Images from State of Michigan Poverty in Michigan webpages)

MWRO Utility Summit Success!

Last Thursday and Friday, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization held its 5th Annual Utility Summit at Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD, Downtown Detroit campus). Attendance by the community, supporting organizations and businesses was beyond expectations! On the first day, over 700 people arrived for help with utility bills; nearly 1000 people attended the next day.
Every Fall and Winter in Detroit, thousands of families face shut-offs in electricity, natural gas, and water to heat their homes. MWRO has been leading the fight to protect families and seniors from shut-offs by coordinating efforts with agencies that provide utility bill assistance, and working with utility companies to proactively address cold weather concerns.

At this year's MWRO Utility Summit, over a dozen DTE Energy staff came out to help customers enroll in low-income billing plans. Among them was Jerry Norcia, President and COO of Michigan Consolidated (MichCon) Gas, a subsidiary of DTE. This show of support for the community is a remarkable turn-around from six years ago when MWRO led pickets in front of DTE for its inhumane utility shut-offs against Michigan's poor.


Maureen Taylor, State Chair of MWRO, reported that among other remarkable news at the event was: (1) a report by the Wayne County Treasurers Dept. that it would no longer process foreclosures on homes due to water bills. These cases will be referred back to the City of Detroit for resolution with the homeowner. Another people's victory!, and (2) The City of Detroit Dept of Human Services will provide up to $3000 toward water, electricity, and natural gas utility bills for families in need.

Many other agencies and organizations also came out to help families protect themselves against Winter shut-offs offering information and resources. They include: Detroit Water and Sewerage Dept, Wayne County Treasurer's Office, City of Detroit Dept of Human Services, Michigan Dept of Human Services, The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW), WCCCD, Detroit Urban League, Goodwill Foundation, Crossroads, WARM, the Michigan Veterans Foundation, United Community Housing Coalition, MI Legal Services, United Way, Angel Food Ministries, Perfecting Church, Community Energy Solutions Program, Wayne Metro-Community Action Group, Moratorium Now! Coalition, and more! Special thanks are also due to Wayne Co. Community College District for the Subway sandwich lunch meals and bags they provided to low-income voters.

At this year's Utility Summit, nearly 2000 families were helped and, hopefully, spared tragic scenarios from freezing temperatures; and heating from candles, open ovens, and dangerous space heaters. Anyone who needs utility help can call MWRO at (312) 964-0618.

Images: First, community members listen to utility resource presentations, photo by Victor Arbulu; second, community residents wait to speak with DTE Energy representatives, photo by Ann Rall.

Tragic Poverty Fires in Highland Park...and the MWRO Utility Summit

The nights have started getting colder in southeast Michigan and low income families are struggling to keep warm. With the socioeconomic crises in Detroit and surrounding areas--no jobs, layoffs, home foreclosures, wide-scale poverty, very low food security, illness--many poor and fixed income households often have to decide between which bills to pay.

Low income families living in large, old, poorly insulated homes in Detroit and Highland Park more often than not are unable to pay altogether for electricity, natural gas, and water. So they make small payments hoping that it will suffice but it doesn't.

Early this morning, another family in Highland Park became victim to poverty fires--dying in one's home because you can't afford to pay for the utility(ies) you need to properly heat it. A beloved grandmother and her three young grandchildren (5, 8, and 10) burned in their home while the children's mother and other relatives luckily managed to escape. According to the Detroit Free Press, the fire department confirmed what neighbors already knew: the fire started from a small space heater used to keep the children warm while they slept.

Yesterday, a neighbor shared information with the grandmother about getting help with her heat bill through THAW, an agency that assists low income families with high bills and getting utilities turned back on. THAW is largely funded through redirected funds from DTE--the Detroit-based utility company that shut-off the family's natural gas in the first place!

Corporations should not be making profits off of the utilities needed for supporting life. We all have the right to shelter, heat, food, water, clothing, and other human rights...and no corporate bottom line should determine who stays warm or who dies. This tragedy, along with neighboring burned homes, never had to happen if low-income families had better assistance, better resources, better information about how to protect their families!

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization is organizing its annual Utility Summit to help families and individuals learn how to avoid utility shut-offs and get assistance. Please encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to attend as we try to put an end to the horror of poverty fires!

MWRO UTILITY CRISIS SUMMIT
Wayne County Community College, Downtown Campus
1001 W. Fort St, Detroit, MI 48226
5:00-7:30pm
Thursday, Oct. 23 for surnames beginning A-L
Friday, Oct. 24 for surnames beginning M-Z

Learn how to avoid utility shut-offs and home foreclosures!
Bring your bills...Show your voter registration card and get a free meal!
Register at (313) 258-6826