FeedsPublic housing plan still languishes
A recent meeting between members of the Inkster City Council, the Inkster Housing Commission and representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Detroit office has not changed the minds of council members who oppose a plan to borrow $4.4 million for public housing improvements.
The meeting, which took place on Sept. 26, was supposed to clear up some concerns council members have about the number of public housing units in the city as it relates to the commission improvement plan.
Instead, the meeting appears to have solidified opposition to any plan that does not include demolition of some of the 700 public housing units in the city.
The dispute began after council last month denied a commission request to make changes to a city ordinance that would have allowed the commission to borrow the money. The commission prepared a plan to fix five aged facilities by repairing plumbing and adding more energy efficient windows, among other changes.
The loans are being offered by the federal government, which has set up a fund to help local housing authorities make repairs.
Dr. Terrel LeCesne, the president of the Inkster Housing Commission, said he was hoping inviting a representative from the Detroit HUD office would help convince at least one of the four council members who voted against allowing the plan to move forward to change his or her mind.
“They were told them that the funds cannot be used for demolition, and more importantly, he said there’s an obvious need for public housing (at its current level) in Inkster,” he said. “He confirmed everything that we told the council.”
A change in the council vote looks more remote now than ever before. Councilwoman Wanda Harris-Foster, who voted against changing the ordinance that would pave the way for the loan, said she hasn’t changed her mind.
“I didn’t hear anything there that would change my position on this,” she said. “We did get some general information about public housing, but all in all, I was disappointed.”
Councilman Ron Johnson also said he’s maintaining his position.
“We’re not going to approve any plan they have unless it includes demolishing units,” he said.
Public housing — and whether the number of units is appropriate for a city with 31,000 residents — has been under scrutiny since the mid-1990s. Universally, all members of the city council have agreed that there needs to be fewer units. Inkster currently has more than twice the public housing units of cities three times its size — Dearborn has 680 units and about 90,000 residents.
There is evidence that the need for subsidized housing in Inkster is great, however. Unemployment figures for the month of August released by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth indicated that 10.4 percent of residents are jobless — more than 3 percentage points above the state levels.
At the city council meeting after the idea of a loan was nixed, public housing residents flooded the floor with stories about living conditions, including problems with sewage back ups.
LeCesne said it is unlikely the commission will be able to move ahead with the improvement plan without the cooperation of the council.
