Detroit workers face desperate situation

An estimated 65,000 people snatched up applications for federal assistance on Oct. 6 and 7 in Detroit. They were applying for emergency funds to aid those facing imminent eviction and/or utility shutoffs. They hoped to receive some of the $15.2 million in federal stimulus money earmarked for Detroit under the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program.

Neighborhood city halls ran out of 25,000 applications in less than three hours on Oct. 6. The next day, tens of thousands lined up outside Cobo Hall downtown hoping to receive one of the remaining 5,000 applications.

City officials were unprepared for the tens of thousands of desperate Detroiters who descended on Cobo Hall. Tensions ran high and a near-stampede occurred when the doors to the convention center were finally opened. Media reports say a half-dozen people fainted and many were conveyed by ambulance to local hospitals. Some 150 cops, including members of the gang squad, were deployed to the scene.

Only about 3,500 people will actually receive any of the stimulus funds, which are designated to help defray the costs of rent and utility bills.

Michigan has the highest official unemployment rate in the country at 15.2 percent. In Detroit, however, the epicenter of the auto industry’s downsizing, the official unemployment rate hit 28.9 percent in July. What this means in terms of human suffering is apparent from these figures: Some 45,000 homes in Detroit have had their water shut off. Thousands have either lost their heat and electricity or face imminent shutoffs as the winter cold begins. Eighty thousand homes stand vacant and vandalized.

The median sale price for a home in Detroit is now an incredibly low $5,000, due to the foreclosure epidemic that is destroying neighborhoods throughout the city.

While even the Detroit Free Press editorialized on Oct. 9 that the outpouring of people seeking emergency assistance reflected the “economic tsunami” that has hit the city, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm have been conspicuously silent. Their “solutions” to the economic disaster are more cutbacks in social programs and the layoff of more public workers—which will only exacerbate the crisis.

There is an alternative. Organizers with the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs announced they are intensifying their two-year campaign to demand the mayor and Granholm exercise their authority under Michigan law to declare an economic emergency, which would allow them to impose an immediate moratorium to stop foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs.

Activists point out that the governor has the legal, constitutional powers to declare a state of economic emergency. During the 1930s, after such an emergency declaration, the Michigan legislature imposed a five-year moratorium on foreclosures. The mayor can likewise request emergency help, as is done when a tornado or flood occurs. Activists are also demanding that President Barack Obama use his authority to similarly declare a state of economic emergency under federal law.

The coalition is asking all community organizations to join the call to demand the declaration of a state of emergency and the implementation of these emergency measures in Detroit and throughout Michigan.