“This bill provides needed clarity and reassurance that individuals involved in evictions or restoring possessions are given the authority of the court and proper training,” Whitmer said in a press release. “Having these roles defined is another way that we can keep Michiganders safe.”
The bill sprang from the state Senate unanimously and passed the House with only one vote in opposition from state Rep. Isaac Robinson (D-Detroit). Robinson told the Advance that he was concerned about “police officers making decisions about property rights on the fly in the heat of an evictions process.”*
The Detroit News found in 2017 that roughly 20 percent of Detroit families face eviction each year , with an average of 35,000 evictions filed yearly.
Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond’s Eviction Lab project found that in 2016, almost 140,000 evictions were filed in the state of Michigan, meaning that Detroit alone accounts for roughly a quarter of the state’s eviction filings.
The Advance reported in January on Detroit’s runaway number of tax foreclosures , a major driver of evictions in the city.
A map produced by the New York Times based on Desmond’s study shows that Michigan has some of the highest eviction rates in the country — not just in Detroit and the surrounding area, but through mid-Michigan and the state’s rural southern and southwest regions.
State Senate Majority Whip Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Twp.), who introduced the bill, wrote in his newsletter that it will “ensure that the eviction process is carried out by trained professionals,” and that “this will better protect the rights, premise and property, as well as the safety of all involved.”
This story was updated with comments from Rep. Isaac Robinson.
