People driving into downtown Detroit Wednesday glimpsed the desperation that has gripped much of America's poor and melting middle class, especially in the country's central cities. The nearly 50,000 Detroiters who lined up outside Cobo Center seeking federal housing assistance recalled the images that shook the world in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This time the culprit was not a natural disaster but a collapsing economy, foreclosure crisis and shredded social safety net that the federal government has only begun to repair.
Detroit has been in recession for a decade. But with an official unemployment rate of 30% and skyrocketing foreclosures that have thrown thousands out of their homes, the recession has become a Great Depression. Nearly 80,000 city homes are vacant, and another 20,000 could empty in the next year. The federal government, which has bailed out Wall Street and assisted auto companies, must do more to keep families in their homes and neighborhoods intact.
So far, the response from Washington has been inadequate. In Detroit, tens of thousands of people sought assistance of up to $3,000, as part of a $15.2-million federal allocation. The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program can provide utility payments and rental, moving and legal assistance for low-income people who are homeless or at risk of losing housing. It's a good program, targeted at those who can maintain housing after getting assistance, but it will help only a fraction of those who need it. In Detroit, more than 60,000 people have secured applications, but only 3,400 will get help. "We saw a microcosm of the challenges that people are facing around the country," mayoral spokesperson Karen Dumas observed.
Detroit officials started distributing applications on Sept. 25 at Neighborhood City Halls and other locations. To be sure, the city could have done a better job of organizing the application process and distributing the forms at Cobo on Wednesday. Given the relatively small amount of aid that is available, city officials are working on better ways to handle applications for assistance, including working more closely with social service agencies to screen applicants for eligibility and validate completed forms.
Detroit faces an economic tsunami. Its leaders must work closely with community social service agencies to ensure that people know where they can get help. But information alone won't be enough.
President Barack Obama has stressed the importance of cities to the national economy. The battle for America's future, he said earlier this year, "will be fought and won in places like Elkhart and Detroit, Goshen and Pittsburgh, South Bend [and] Youngstown."
It's a battle the country could lose if it doesn't respond to the unnatural disaster Detroit and other cities face.
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