DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says $11.5 million is available to help Detroit residents who are facing eviction.
Mayor Mike Duggan is talking about assistance programs for people who will need help when Michigan’s eviction moratorium comes to an end at midnight tonight. The funds are for free legal defense and rental assistance.
The city is setting up a hotline for people who will need help staying in their homes.
Detroit residents at risk of a potential eviction should go to www.DetroitEvictionHelp.com or call 866-313-2520 to get the process started as soon as possible. The phone number will be live by Thursday.
To be eligible, a Detroit resident must be income eligible and have a notice to quit or a court order summons, complaint or judgment against them. Renters will qualify based on their current household income and family size.
Duggan says they will be providing assistance because, while they don’t want people removed from their homes, they cannot say to landlords that they can’t evict people for not paying their rent.
Duggan says those landlords have mortgage payments they need to make.
Duggan says that while Detroit has done well in containing COVID-19, with this being the second week with only one death, the city now has to deal with the economic fallout.
The mayor says one of the things they need to improve is the digital divide in the city between those who have access to high-speed internet and those who don’t.
Duggan says the divide in enhancing the opportunities for those in well-funded schools, while it is forcing those in poorer distract further behind.
Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner joined the mayor’s news conference to address how they are helping with their Changing the Course effort, which is connected to the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Farner says they believe they will raise, they believe, $2 million to address the digital divide in the city. Farner says they will be partnering with the United Way to accomplish this as part of the Connect 313 effort.
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