Deluge of Water Shutoffs
Investigative reporter Curt Guyette examined the plans for the 24,743 households that signed up last year to avoid water shutoffs. The program required paying the current bill of approximately $70 plus 10% of the overdue amount each month.
Guyette termed the program a “massive failure,” with only 300 current with their bills. As water shutoffs restart at the end of May, a Detroit Free Press article reported that 28,000 customers face immediate cutoffs. Add to that the approximately 14,000 households that never had their service restored in last year’s shut offs.
This year the Water Residential Assistance Program will have $4.5 million available for Detroit and the tri-county area. A report from the Detroit City Council’s legislative policy division noted that this is “significantly less” than needed to help Detroiters, where residential customers currently at least 60 days past due owe $47.3 million. An additional complication is the Detroit Water and Sewer Department’s request that City Council approve a huge 12.8% rate hike.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that water rates not exceed 2.5% of a household’s income. For their part, the Detroit People’s Water Board, a coalition of organizations, has called for a water affordability plan instead of “helping” people after they’re already behind on their bills. Several U.S. cities — including Cleveland and Portland — use such a system, which sets differential rates based on a ratepayer’s disposable income.
Mayor Duggan took charge of the water department last year when the shutoffs created such a scandal that the emergency manager threw up his hands. The mayor outlined a 10-point plan, but resists the concept of affordability, claiming that “free” water is not an option.
In insisting that water is a human right, no one claimed it was possible right now to have a free system. In fact in 2006 the Detroit City Council adopted a water affordability plan that set rates at 2-3% of household income but the city’s law department ruled it illegal and it was never implemented by the water department. Will the water department, now in the process of regionalization, be able to move to such a proposal? Can the county treasurer learn from the failure of both past auctions and the water crisis?
If logic were the basis of Detroit’s planning, this approach to water usage makes sense. And there is also a solution to tax evictions. After June 8 the county formally owns the property that is to be auctioned off in the fall, and could simply arrange to sell the homes back to residents for a small fee, wipe out the back debt and reassess the property. That would stabilize several neighborhoods and there would be a lot less blight to clean up.
If gentrification is the goal, however, the plans in place will continue to displace a Black working class and level neighborhoods. The truth is that mortgage and tax foreclosures have caused most of the city’s blight over the last 15 years — and given that only 35% of homeowners are current with their property taxes, next year will see another round of city-initiated foreclosures.
Foreclosures have been a major factor in pushing Detroiters beyond the city limits. While the 2000 census counted just under a million city residents, there were only 714,000 a decade later. And the decline continues, although it has slowed with gentrification and is currently the population is estimated at 680,000.