A New Method of Gentrification…

The following post is a message written on July 17, 2014 by Monica Lewis-Patrick, a local organizer in Detroit, Michigan, a member of the ColorOfChange, and the founder of We The People of Detroit. Patrick is campaigning for homes in Detroit that are without water. She is working to encourage the Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder and Kevyn Orr, Michigan’s Emergency Manager to better assist low income families in the city of Detroit with affordable water. If you would like to support Patrick’s protest, read on and please sign the petition.

LF

Dear Reader,

Residents who owe as little as $33 are having their water shut off with no warning.¹People have no time to fill buckets, sinks or tubs. Seniors, the sick and injured, families with special needs, are left without running water and working toilets. People recovering from surgery cannot wash and change bandages. Children cannot bathe and parents cannot cook.

And while the people suffer, the corporations are protected. The city of Detroit provides water at wholesale price to the wealthy suburbs; however city residents pay retail price for the water they receive.² Palmer Park Golf Course owes $422,000 the VA Hospital owes $131,000, yet they continue to have water.³ As well, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr gave Gov. Snyder a pass on the Michigan’s $4.5 million unpaid water bill of by reducing the state’s debt to $113,000. Only $19,000 has been paid to date.

Entire families and their livelihoods are on the line. If parents cannot afford to restore water service within 60 days they are at risk of having Social Services remove their children from the home.⁴ If water bills remain unpaid a lien can be placed on the home and the home can be sold.⁵

The plan to cut off water to 150,000 households by the end of the summer is part of efforts to sell off and privatize Detroit’s water system.⁶ In order to make the utility attractive to investors, lower-income households are being forced to pay exorbitant rates for their water and sewer services, or see their access cut. Water rates have risen in Detroit by 119% in the last decade.⁷ With unemployment rates at a record high, and the poverty rate at about 40%, Detroit water bills are unaffordable to a massive portion of the community.⁸

Hundreds of thousands of low-income Black families are at risk. The city’s water shut offs are in line with decades of racially discriminatory policies targeting Black and Brown Detroiters, which have resulted in unjust home seizures, the separation of children from their parents, and the creation of serious health risks to entire neighborhoods.⁹ By allowing thousands of people to be denied access to water and sanitation services, the U.S. government is violating the United Nations resolution codifying the human right to water and sanitation. ¹⁰

Thanks and Peace,

—Monica Lewis-Patrick
July 17th, 2014

References

1. “We the People of Detroit,” Facebook https://act.colorofchange.org/go/3672?t=8&akid=3496.1199623.8tQ0Yd

2. “Detroit Water Shutoffs,” Politics Progressive 07-11-2014
https://act.colorofchange.org/go/3674?t=10&akid=3496.1199623.8tQ0Yd

3. See reference 1.

4. “Detroit’s Water War: a tap shut-off that could impact 300,000 people,” The Guardian 06-24-2014
https://act.colorofchange.org/go/3668?t=12&akid=3496.1199623.8tQ0Yd

5. “Important Tax Lien Information,” Detroit Water and Sewage Department
https://act.colorofchange.org/go/3670?t=14&akid=3496.1199623.8tQ0Yd

6. “What Happens When Detroit Shuts Off the Water of 100,000 People,” The Atlantic 07-17-2014
https://act.colorofchange.org/go/3671?t=16&akid=3496.1199623.8tQ0Yd

7. See reference 3.

8. See reference 5.

9. See reference 3.

10.”Against Austerity in Detroit: ‘Water Is a Human Right,’” The Nation 07-11-2014
https://act.colorofchange.org/go/3673?t=18&akid=3496.1199623.8tQ0Yd