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State housing development authority works to end rent discrimination
Kelly Rose is the chief housing solutions officer for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. She outlined the racial disparities among white renters, and renters of color.
FOX 2 (WJBK) - Thirteen percent of Michigan's population is Black, but more than 40 percent of its homeless are people of color.
As eviction moratoriums put in place during the pandemic are lifted, experts are worried that number could rise. There are many Black and brown renters who face financial and racial barriers, but there is one state agency trying to break the cycle.
Major cities, like Detroit, are rehabbing older buildings into apartments, as a way to provide more affordable housing. These positive projects are just one step in tackling a large problem for African-American renters.
"African-Americans are typically paying more than $150 more than other races in terms of security deposits, so they’re being essentially discriminated against," said Kelly Rose.
Rose is the chief housing solutions officer for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. She outlined the racial disparities among white renters, and renters of color.
The Campaign to End Homelessness Report shows four out of every 10 Black or Latinx renters struggle paying rent month-to-month in Michigan. Landlords evict single Black mothers the most of any demographic. That’s why MSHDA wants to break the cycle.
"We’re going through a racial equity impact analysis right now to try to develop and understand what if any of our policies and procedures within the local levels are creating more barriers for people," Rose said. "We obviously want to remove those."
FOX 2: "I know this is your job, but how does it feel to at least play a part in breaking that cycle?"
"There’s a long way go," she said. "We definitely feel good about the direction that we’re taking, but we know there’s a long way to go to correct hundreds of years of disparities."
MSHDA is also working to keep the number of evictions down as moratoriums — enacted during the pandemic — are lifted.
The agency is earmarking millions of dollars for large-scale eviction prevention programs and free legal representation for people in eviction cases.