Detroit woman and her family facing homelessness after struggling to afford rent
(CBS DETROIT) - Homelessness continues to be a growing issue. We spoke with one Detroit woman who is facing homelessness, and she says she is now living in a hotel after being evicted for not paying her rent.
Juanita Cottrell said she also doesn't earn enough money to pay for the hotel she is staying at now, and time is running out for her and her family unless they get housing assistance soon.
She said she has been borrowing money from friends and family to pay for the hotel, but even loans from them have run out. Currently, in the small hotel room, Cottrell said she and her two children and granddaughter are crammed in there with all of their belongings.
"It's hard. I had already been through a process with not having a place to stay when my dad passed, so it's even harder now," she said.
Cottrell said she only earns a little over $600 per month and she would like to get a second job so she can afford housing. However, she said that is difficult because she also does not have a car.
Her circumstances are not unique. Officials with the City of Detroit said several factors are leading to housing issues in the city right now. Factors such as less money available for housing assistance, more people needing help, and fewer shelter beds available.
"There's evictions which are nearing their pre-pandemic levels of about 10,000 a year. We had the moratorium, of course, and now we've climbed up to about 7,000 last year, a little bit less than 7,000 last year," said David Bowser, chief of Housing Solutions & Support Services for the City of Detroit. "And so on top of that, the number of shelter beds that we have in our actual emergency shelter system has decreased."
Cottrell said she has been assigned a new housing case worker, which has been delaying the process for housing help, but said she has been in touch with a new one as of last week.