When the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department announced its smaller, revamped water affordability plan late last year, advocates and officials alike expected the program to fill quickly.
How to apply for Lifeline H2O
Visit detroitlifeline.com or call 313-435-2055 to apply for Lifeline H2O. To be eligible, you must:
- Have a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level
- Use the service address as your primary residence
- Have a fully functioning water meter
- Have a registered account in the DWSD Customer Self-Service Portal
- Have no past-due balance
At its height, the original program, called the Lifeline Plan, served 29,000 households in Detroit — with monthly bills as low as $18. But the city failed to secure permanent funding, ending the program that thousands of households relied on.
As of Jan. 21, just 1,827 households had signed up for the 5,000 slots available in the new program, dubbed Lifeline H2O. That’s left many Detroiters with bills they are unable to afford, racking up debt that is locking them out of the very program intended to help them.
“This doesn’t make sense to have to do this this many times, to call this many times, like almost every day for the first week or two. I was trying it, hoping they figured out what the problem was and fix it,” she said…