Detroit's low-income water bill assistance program on hold after reaching capacity

Detroit's Lifeline H2O program, designed to help low-income residents afford water, has now reached its limit.

This comes after the program reached capacity, helping nearly 5,000 families before running out of available funds.

"Currently, we have about 4,710 customers enrolled in our Lifeline H2O program. That exhausts all the current funding that we have. We can't spend money that we don't have," said Sam Smalley, deputy director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

Applications closed about three weeks ago, leaving some residents without access to the program for now.

For those still trying to keep up, the question is what comes next.

"We do have the Easy Pay option, which allows for just $10 down, regardless of the type of account, whether it's residential, commercial, or even industrial, faith-based, or nonprofit; for just $10 down, you can avoid interruption," said Smalley.

That payment plan spreads out what you owe and can help prevent service from being shut off.

"The arrearage will be spread evenly over 36 months, and that protects that account from shutoff or interruption," said Smalley. 

We also wanted to know what this means for residents right now and whether shutoffs are a concern.

"We are not aggressively shutting people off. We are doing some interruptions on an as-needed basis," said Smalley. 

Smalley says the future of the program depends on whether more funding comes through.

"I think that we need alignment with the activists and the utilities and the local leaders and the state leaders to recognize that this is a very significant issue. There are people that need help, and this is a critical issue for all of us to help solve," said Smalley. 

DWSD hopes more funds will be available by early summer.