In 2015 Wayne County set a record for the number of homes at risk of tax foreclosure with 75,000 at risk. In January 2016 62,082 Detroit homes entered the formal tax foreclosure process with the Wayne County Treasurer’s office; that is 1/6 of all homes in the city or 100,000 people. Experts feared that estimates were conservative and the reality of the crisis was much bigger- we heard it referred to as a “hurricane without water.”

We invited Detroiters to share their storiessmall group of volunteers that made residents feel welcome during their time at the Show Cause Hearings. During the month of March, UWSEM mailed a postcard to each of these homes. Residents were encouraged to call 2-1-1, an around the clock help center so they could be directed to the nearest foreclosure event. In addition, 2-1-1 placed a robot call to each of the 15,000 homes to ensure that residents would know about the resources that were still available