At-Large Council Member Mary Waters believes the council is vital in responding to issues that are often misunderstood by state lawmakers and federal policymakers.
Waters said she saw this first-hand when U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner visited Detroit last December. Turner, she said, argued that a federal funding shift from permanent housing programs to transitional housing will make Americans more self-reliant. Waters told Turner he should tour Detroit’s shelters to understand where the dollars would go.
“If that’s the route they’re going, then transitional housing needs to be decent,” Waters said. “You don’t want to throw people in a dump, especially where children are concerned. Sometimes people in Lansing and DC are so far removed from the basic needs at the local level.”…