Detroit — Heloyse Moore has lived in the same Detroit home since 1962. When her roof began leaking in December, she feared she wouldn’t be able to stay.
Moore, nearly 93 years old, is among the first of 2,000 residents to have a new roof installed by the city’s Renew Detroit program.
The home repair program was established in 2021. After a community feedback process, the Detroit City Council initially voted in July 2022 to appropriate $30 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for home repair to seniors, low-income and disabled community members.
It was initially expected to aid 1,500 residents, but an additional $15 million in funds granted by the state of Michigan in July 2022 expanded the program’s capacity to 2,000 homes. Democratic state Reps. Helena Scott, Shri Thanedar, Karen Whitsett, Tenisha Yancey and Stephanie Young helped earmark the additional funds to be repaired in two phases.
The city began phase one roof replacements in fall 2022 and will continue through 2024. The city will begin phase two repairs in 2024 and expects to continue them through 2026. Phase two will allow for roof or window replacements, whichever is deemed to be more critical.
For residents like Moore, the program has already made a difference.
“We noticed the ceiling was cracking in the two back rooms and the roof was leaking through, and I was just wondering what was I going to do,” Moore said Monday. “I saw the roof program on the news and just thought I might not qualify because I was always a dollar or two over all my life. I also wanted to stay in my home.”
Moore said it was the first time she didn’t have to pay to improve the home on Annabelle and Fort Street, which was built in 1948. The home is filled with thriving plants, decades of memorabilia and art and even a brick from the former Southwest High School that sits beside her fireplace.
“My husband died about 30 years ago, and I don’t want to move into a nursing home or elsewhere,” said the mother of three boys. “It would have cost me about $15,000 for a new roof. What a blessing.”
The total value of home repairs needed in the state’s largest city could be between $2 billion and $4 billion, according to estimates from the University of Michigan Poverty Solution researchers.
Darlene Caro, Renew Detroit program director, said there was no framework to build the program initially, but she’s proud of their case managers who work directly with contractors and keep residents informed of the progress. All 2,000 residents have been selected, and they are prioritized by most urgent need.
“The City of Detroit was doing home repairs before, but never at the scale of 1,000 repairs per phase. We’ve had to stretch ourselves, and be operationally and data-focused. We’ve had to establish a team that is robust when it comes to customer service, how we interact with residents and keep track of those interactions,” Caro said. “Our program’s focus has been focused around housing stability and housing quality. Putting a new roof on not only increases the value of the home overall but the quality of actually being able to reside in it.”
The program’s contractors are Great Lakes Roofing, 1-800-Hanson’s, and Detroit-based Presidential Construction.
Two of Moore’s sons recalled growing up with fruit trees in the backyard, gravel streets and their mother serving as a teacher’s aid at the nearby school. They said the process took a seamless three months since she applied in December.
“I retired and came home to Detroit in 2016 after being gone for about 40 years, and things like this shows me things are turning around,” said Ronald Moore. “… Programs like this have added on to my mother’s life, because she can continue to live independently among the block of people who all know her.”
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