(WXYZ) — A program changing lives in the City of Detroit is now accepting applicants, but you have to be quick.
Monday is the deadline to apply for the Homeowners Property Exemption Program (HOPE), where the city helps low-income families stay in their homes. You can apply on the City of Detroit website.
Delinquent property taxes are pushing people out of their homes, and it isn't an unusual issue in the city.
However, there is a renewed urgency to get families to apply for HOPE so they can stay in their homes.
Ljunanya Akua does everything at her house. At 77 years old, she literally means everything.
“I climb the ladder, clean my gutters I do everything by myself," Akua said.
It's clear to see the love, effort ad pride she has in her perfectly purple home of the last 32 years.
"When it gets warmer, I'm going to paint the white part a different shade of purple," she said.
But as a retired, widowed wife of a veteran, she has a limited income, and the mounting bills nearly led to a foreclosure
"Im a senior. I’ve paid my taxes, I haven’t asked them for anything, until I needed it," she said.
She's now enrolled in HOPE, which uses funds to eliminate or reduce deliquent property taxes, and the results are life-changing.
"We’ve been able to save over 12,000 homeowners from tax foreclosures through this process," Willie Donwell, the director of the Property Assessment Board of Review, said.
That's just since 2020, according to Donwell.
Each year, he said the program receives about 2,100 applicants and nearly 80% are approved.
He said it usually costs about $9-$12 million per year from authorities, but many say the investment is deserved because the city has some of the highest property taxes in the country.
A lawsuit alleges between 2010-2016, the city over-assessed its property values, leading to tens of thousands of Detroiters losing their homes.
Donwell said HOPE has been in operation since before the suit, and the focus is to help.
"We have to be able to stabilize and maintain our neighborhoods," Donwell said.
Once again, the deadline to apply is Monday at 4:30 p.m. and you can apply on the City of Detroit website.
