The Detroit Free Press 03/02/12 Steve Neavling
“State tries to ensure money is used to help poor people in Detroit”
Citing mismanagement and reports of corruption, state officials are trying to stop paying the City of Detroit more than $15 million a year intended to help lower-income residents.
Officials from the Michigan Department of Human Services plan to urge the Detroit City Council this afternoon to approve transfer of the funds to a nonprofit agency, a move designed to improve the delivery of services in one of the nation's most impoverished cities.
The Human Services Department is under an FBI investigation following Free Press reports last year that agency officials misused tax dollars on family and friends. That was followed by newspaper reports that showed the city had returned $9.2 million in funding for weatherization of homes over the last year because officials couldn't spend it in time.
As a result, more than 1,000 lower-income Detroiters missed out on weatherization funds, which are intended to upgrade furnaces and windows and make other improvements to help lower energy costs.
Robert Oliver shivers inside his house on the east side because of a failing furnace. The city pledged to fix the furnace last year, he said, but backed out after running out of money.
"The city has shown over and over again that it doesn't have the capacity to handle these grants," Brown said. "It's absolutely essential to get this funding to people who really need it."
But Brown and others are bothered by news that the money may go to the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency in Wyandotte, which handles weatherization in most of Wayne County, but not in Detroit.
While acknowledging problems at the Human Services Department, some city officials said they are opposed to transferring funds because the problem could be alleviated with new management.
The department, for example, has been forced to return $7 million in federal funds intended for the Head Start program over the last six years while waiting lists grew and the number of children served dropped.
Unable to spend $210,000 from grants designed to help feed and clothe poor people, the Human Services Department instead used the money on furniture for its offices.
Some employees in the department also used gift cards to buy high-end washers, dryers, refrigerators and freezers for family members and friends, who were ineligible for the funding, an earlier Free Press investigation found.
Common Sense Review
I do not want to hear that Detroit or Wayne County needs state funds. Municipality staff seems to not care about their mission and purpose that they cannot meet deadlines for service to the citizens.
The excuse that they are now under new management is the “Obama Excuse” which doesn’t fly for support for their lack of support to the citizen of Wayne Co.
No more funds until you get yourself straight… the party is over..
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