Crowds Clamor in Detroit for Homeless Prevention Funds

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-10-08 08:46:00 UTC
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Yesterday, thousands of individuals swarmed to downtown Detroit and spent the day standing in long lines. American Idol tryouts? Health care rally? Try again. These individuals were in line to fill out an application for a shot at homeless prevention funds.

Detroit has bore the brunt of the nation's economic woes. The city's foreclosure rate is among the nation's highest, and 25 percent of the cities residents are currently unemployed, according to the AP. So it's no wonder that so many people who are on the cusp of homelessness came out in droves yesterday for a shot at keeping their home.

Still, desperate times call for desperate measures, and "desperate" seems to describe the overwhelming feeling of the crowds outside the Cobo center yesterday. From the AP:

Scuffles erupted as several thousand Detroit residents jockeyed, pushed and shoved Wednesday to get free money being offered to only 3,500 of the city's recently or soon to be homeless.

Several received medical treatment for fainting or exhaustion while frantically trying to obtain the applications for federal housing assistance. The long lines and short tempers highlighted the frustration and desperation that Detroit residents feel struggling through an economic nightmare.

By the end of the day, 50,000 applications had been distributed for the 3,500 assistance emergency grants to be distributed. With so many people hurting in one city, Detroit's HPRP homeless prevention funds very well could be providing more false hope than help.

That said, if these funds keep 3,500 people in their homes, that is certainly a worthy and critical use of stimulus funds. Still - I worry. Without any plans for an influx of jobs, could these prevention funds simply be delaying the inevitable?

Below: images from the Cobo Center in downtown Detroit.

Images from @unitedwayjohn and the Associated Press.

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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