Detroiters can avoid foreclosure, bring down property tax debt with these resources

Nushrat Rahman, Detroit Free Press
·3 min read
Robert Day of Better Man Outreach looks over home addresses Tuesday on Detroit's west side that are facing or already in foreclosure with help from Detroit Financial Empowerment Manager Chelsea Neblett while going door to door with the city of Detroit and the nonprofit group The Peoples Action. The city and select nonprofits are working together to inform Detroiters about resources to prevent foreclosure.

Detroiters behind on their property taxes can still tap into resources to bring down their tax debt and avoid foreclosure.

Tax foreclosure is the process by which homeowners lose their property because they didn't pay their property taxes.

Earlier this year, the Wayne County treasurer halted some foreclosures so taxpayers, who suffered financially during the COVID-19 pandemic, had enough time to apply for relief programs.

More: Wayne County halts foreclosures on certain owner-occupied homes through March 2023

More: Housing costs take bulk of paycheck for thousands of Detroiters, survey shows

A court order withheld from foreclosure owner-occupied homes with delinquent taxes from 2017 to 2019 through March 2023, extending by another year the deadline to get on payment plans or pay back taxes.

Across the county, the ruling kept 3,861 homes from foreclosure this year, according to the Treasurer's Office.

But the court order does not apply to property owners with tax debt in 2016 or prior and nonowner-occupied homes, such as rentals.

That means that since March 31 in Detroit, 3,695 properties have been foreclosed, including 401 owner-occupied and 1,421 nonowner-occupied homes.

Robert Day of Better Man Outreach looks over home addresses Tuesday on Detroit's west side that are facing or already in foreclosure with help from Detroit Financial Empowerment Manager Chelsea Neblett while going door to door with the city of Detroit and the nonprofit group The Peoples Action. The city and select nonprofits are working together to inform Detroiters about resources to prevent foreclosure.

The city of Detroit is using $2.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to go door-to-door informing residents — whose homes have either already been foreclosed or may be foreclosed next year — about available help.

"The intent and the goal is really to be proactive and ensure that residents are aware of the various property tax foreclosure prevention resources that exist," said Chelsea Neblett, a financial empowerment manager with the city's Department of Neighborhoods.

The Treasurer's Office has an updated list of properties that are likely to be foreclosed. Download it at https://www.waynecounty.com/elected/treasurer/.

Taxpayers can also search for delinquent property tax information at https://pta.waynecounty.com/.

The Free Press has also partnered with Outlier Media — which runs an SMS texting service — to give Detroit residents the ability to look up their address and check whether a property has been foreclosed by texting HOUSING to 67485. This service only works for addresses in Detroit. Data is current as of June 1.

Here are some available resources for those who may face foreclosure next year:

  • Homeowners Property Exemption (HOPE): This is a poverty tax exemption for income-eligible Detroiters that exempts them from the current year's property taxes. For more information, go to www.detroitmi.gov/hope.

  • Detroit Tax Relief Fund: This program, funded by the Gilbert Family Foundation, can bring property tax debt down to zero. It's for those who have already been approved for the HOPE exemption and the county's Pay As You Stay (PAYS) program, which reduces back tax debt. For more information, go to waynemetro.org/propertytax or call the Detroit Tax Relief Fund at 313-244-0274.

  • Michigan Homeowner Assistance Fund (MIHAF): This statewide and federally funded program is for those hit hard financially by the pandemic. Grant dollars can be used for delinquent property taxes. To learn more, go to Michigan.gov/MIHAF or call 844-756-4423.

  • Wayne County payment plans: The Wayne County Treasurer's Office has some payment assistance plans. For more information, go to bit.ly/WayneCountyPaymentPlans.

Some Detroiters whose properties have been foreclosed may be eligible for the Make It Home program, which helps residents, including renters, living in foreclosed homes to buy their properties before auction. For more information about that program, go to uchcdetroit.org/makeithome.

Those who applied for the MIHAF program before March 31 can still notify the Treasurer's Office, with proof that they applied before that deadline, and have their property removed from the foreclosure list. Contact taxinfo@waynecounty.com.

Nushrat Rahman covers issues related to economic mobility for the Detroit Free Press and Bridge Detroit as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA.

Contact Nushrat: nrahman@freepress.com; 313-348-7558. Follow her on Twitter: @NushratR. Sign up for Bridge Detroit's newsletter. Become a Free Press subscriber. 

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Here are some ways Detroiters can avoid foreclosure next year