In August 2023, severe weather caused major flooding in neighborhoods all over Detroit.
“It was a high amount of rainfall in a short period of time, and the sewer system wasn’t able to handle that amount of rainfall,” Julie Schneider, director of Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department, said.
The city has been given $346 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Officials want to use around $220 million of that funding to address flooding concerns.
“Storm water projects to kind of hold still storm water, increase the amount of storm water that can be held so water can be removed more quickly from the surface level,” Schneider said.
Another way the money can be used, according to Schneider, is to fix a home’s connection to the sewer system.
“Along the alley of a home, there is most likely a connection to the city sewer system, in a lot of cases, that has fallen off. That increases the debris that’s getting into the system, which reduces how much water can go into the system and also can cause backup issues into homes,” Schneider said.
While a large portion of the funds will be used to mitigate flooding issues, Detroit residents hope the city will also address another major problem.
“Rent is just horrendous,” Detroit resident Joyce Shelton said.
Another resident, Benjamin Gaspar, says the rising expenses of housing and food are concerning.
Schneider says another $75 million of the grant money will go toward housing, including affordable housing development and down payment assistance.
“The biggest driver of why we received these dollars was housing, and so a portion of these dollars will be used to improve our housing stock,” Schneider said.
The city is holding two virtual public input meetings. The first is on Monday at 6 p.m. and the second is March 17 at 5 p.m.
