MWRO Sign-ups for DTE Affordable Payment Plan

You are invited to MWRO's third information session to sign up for a new DTE affordable payment program beginning this Fall. Qualified persons will also be eligible for bill arrearage forgiveness. Sessions will be held Friday, August 30 from 11am-1pm and 4-6pm at Central United Methodist Church, 23 E. Adams St, Detroit, MI 48226. (Free parking for the first two dozen cars to arrive, enter on Elizabeth St.)

Call (313) 703-5940 for more info and to sign up for one of the two sessions.

Since 2011, thousands of low income families have been cut-off of public assistance, struggled to find safe, affordable housing; and had difficulty making ends meet in this Emergency Manager-grand austerity economy. The utility crisis is one of many daily struggles Detroit area families have in keeping on lights for newborn babies and children, and keeping on breathing machines for elders who also need their medications refrigerated. Affordable payment options are one way to protect families but we must do more to ensure the health and well-being of low income families. Come join us to discuss what we can do.

Photo courtesy of Colorlines.com, Creative Commons.

Tell Michigan to Save the Low-Income Energy Efficiency Fund

We have just learned from our friends at the Sierra Club-Detroit Chapter that the Low-Income Energy Efficiency Fund (LIEEF), a fund distributed across the state to help low-income people prevent heat shut offs, is in dire jeopardy!

The Michigan Court of Appeals recently decided that the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) does not have the authority to administer the fund as it has for more than a decade. The MPSC regulates the rates of natural gas, electricity and telephone utilities in Michigan; and is led by three commissioners appointed by the Governor.

Public comments on this ruling and the impacts it will have on Michigan communities are desperately needed by Monday, August 1, 2011 by 5 p.m. EST.

It is too late to mail your response to Lansing but you can give your comments by e-mail at  mpscedockets@michigan.gov. Your comments should reference Case No. U-16418 . You may also attach a document in Word or PDF format. Please note that all information you submit on this matter will become public information available on the MPSC's website and is subject to disclosure.

You can also reviewed current public comments and documents on this at Case No. U-16418. The entire report on LIEFF is available at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mpsc/PSC_Report_on_Low_Income__Energy_Efficiency_Fund_1010_337742_7.pdf

Rhonda Anderson of the Sierra Club-Detroit Chapter tells us: 

"...this money is set aside to use as an emergency fund for people [who] have had their utilities shut off. This [money] often is critical in that it assists them in having them turned back on. Utility shut off is one of the leading causes of homelessness. Considering the unemployment and poverty here in the City of Detroit by cutting this emergency fund out, it will mean so many thousands will be left in the cold and dark, maybe on the streets."

Everyone know that Michigan is a snow state. In the middle of Winter, temperatures can reach into the single digits and below zero degrees. The blistering cold is especially dangerous for low-income families with young children and senior citizens. Yet, every year we know thousands of people across Michigan are at risk of freezing in their homes because they cannot afford or keep up with the high cost of heating bills from for-profit utility companies. Help us reverse this life-threatening decision against Michigan residents.

The Reagan Years Are Back Again In Detroit

Not since 1984, when President Reagan sold us a pile of mess called Trickle Down Economics have we seen such high unemployment rates in Michigan. The state reported unemployment rates of 12% in February 2009. Worse yet, Michigan's largest city, Detroit, reported an unemployment rate of 22.2%--the highest since 1983!

Apparently, these numbers don't even include the men and women who have simply given up looking, or who can only find part-time work. As more and more Michiganders are laid off from auto industry-related jobs, they're competing with low-income families in need of work and who are barely making ends meet.

We find that these families are also competing for jobs with senior citizens who can't afford their medications or high utility bills. Instead of sitting out on their porches or balconies, our elders are standing for hours at a time selling fast food or greeting customers!

And forget about any of our youth trying to get jobs. They have virtually no chance in these terrible economic conditions and will suffer the consequences later, as adults, when they have little or no job experience to show.

During these days of government handouts and bailouts to banks and businesses, the people of Detroit and Michigan need cash bailouts too! We don't need politicians promising tax credits or asking for our patience. Neither will buy groceries or pay the light bill! As citizens and taxpayers, we want and deserve the same assistance that is being given to the corporate welfare cronies across this country!

(Image courtesy Moronail.net)

January is Poverty in America Awareness Month

We're back! After a few days of taking our own needed rest, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization is back online reporting the latest poverty news, welfare rights reports, and issues related to low-income people in Michigan and beyond.

Fittingly, January is “Poverty in America Awareness Month,” a designation by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). During this month, allied groups and organizations will be working to educate the public on the breadth and depth of poverty-related problems, encouraging the media to report on poverty issues, and promoting a greater respect for and sensitivity to the needs of those in poverty.

The CCHD's poverty tour discusses what life is like for the 37 million Americans living below the poverty line. A family of four living on a budget of $20,614 must find ways to survive on similar measly incomes and make ends meet. Here's the CCHD poverty budget example:

$20,614 family budget
-5,756 basic housing
-2,656 utilities
-5,330 transportation w/ a used car, maintenance and gas
-4,064 food (hopefully, supplemented with food stamps)
-2,339 health and medical expenses
--------
479 subtotal
-2,600 child care (even w/ child care subsidies)
--------
-2,121 over budget and there are needs still to be met

So, what gets cut? Utilities? Medications? Education? School supplies? Clothes? Shoes? Furnishings? Toiletries? Entertainment? Birthdays?

No one in this world should be living in such subsistence and worried about how their family will live and survive. Push your local, regional, and national representatives to alleviate poverty once and for all by voting for living wages, national single payer healthcare, better child care subsidies, low-income affordable housing and utilities ordinances, and overall quality of life and human rights policies.

“Capitalism vs Democracy”

‘Cipients Speak! December 2008
by Maureen D. Taylor, MWRO State Chair

As we come to the end of the year, MWRO sends out greetings to our members across the state and to the welfare rights members across the country, the front-line fighters. Don’t get weary now! The American worker is looking at this collapse of an economy that we have all grown up under, and many questions abound.

Most of our lives, we have equated capitalism with democracy. People have the right to make money at the expense of someone else. Lights, gas, water – all natural resources have been privatized as corporations make millions at the hands of our suffering, and we are taught that this is the “American way.”

Retirees put their trust in these same corporations, and allowed these snakes to invest their pensions in stock market ventures, and now that their precious dollars are gone, the message is, “too bad!” We have seniors living well below the poverty level, juggling decisions to pay bills or pay for prescriptions, and we are okay with that?

Veterans who served honorably are living in homeless shelters, and we are okay with that? Southern congressional officials are demanding that northern workers accept the no-benefit salaries paid to non-union workers, and we are okay with that?

Capitalism doesn’t mean democracy, it equals terrorism.

The door is open to start rebuilding the country based on a new standard of living. Welfare Rights supports a guaranteed annual income for those unable to secure employment that maintains a level of existence well above poverty. If we can spend $10B per month over eight years for wars, we can keep people fed, clothed, and out of harms way.

The technology exists today to feed folk, to build cars that run on vegetable oil, to build affordable homes, to provide healthcare, and to make America closer to the dream that it was built on. We have to construct a new point of view that emphasizes that the needs of the many are more important than the needs of the few. Thank you, Mr. Spock! Happy Holidays to All!

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)

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

Where's the rescue plan for the poor?

As Wall Street banks and U.S. government officials continue to figure out how to dole out billions of taxpayer dollars, we now hear that some of these corporate welfare companies are still lavishing themselves at our expense!

Democracy Now reports that AIG executives treated themselves to a $440,000 luxury week-long vacation with expensive dinners and spa treatments just days after receiving an $85 billion dollar bailout. Maybe they were exhausted from years of making greedy deals and sucking the life out of the retirement accounts of ordinary people.

But in Detroit, there are no such luxuries or extravagances. In Detroit, 1 in 3 residents lives in poverty leaving Detroit as the poorest big city in the nation. According to the Detroit News, the State of Michigan also has the distinction of being the only state in the country to see a rise in poverty with a decline in income. These aren't recognitions that anyone wants to have. For the people who live in these conditions, life is miserable!

If you're a family on public assistance, your circumstances are even more dire as welfare reform cuts and policy limits have pushed families to the brink of desperation. College educated workers are competing with limited skill "work-first" assistance recipients in a state economy without jobs. Furthermore, poor Detroiters face shut-offs in the upcoming winter months on utilities such as electricity, natural gas, and water. The consequences are dire and low-income children and senior citizens are most at risk.

WE NEED ATTENTION AND ACTION BY OUR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO TAKE CARE OF THE BASIC NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE! Congress and the President have rescued big business, now we need them to rescue poor people. Enough is enough!