Javay Coleman (left) and new home owner Lakeisha Anderson (right)
In March of 2020, Matrix Human Services became an official partner of the Detroit Land Bank Authority Occupied Buy Back Program – helping clients who already have a history with a home, to buy it back from the city. Each client who lost their home has a different story. In many circumstances, the house was lost due to unpaid taxes, causing the city to reclaim it.
However, in some cases, the home owner may be completely unaware that they no longer own their home. This was the case for Duane Howard who is now a successful graduate of the program.
Watch Duane’s interview video below
“The city of Detroit is definitely in a housing crisis and the Buy Back program partnered with Matrix really allows individuals to stabilize their housing situation by continuing to become home owners, but individuals don’t trust the process. So really at Matrix, our underlying goal is to build those relationships with the client.” – Elizabeth Hunter, Housing Counseling Specialist
When Duane signed the Quick Claim Deed to become owner of his mother’s house in 2011, he thought he was in the clear. As years went by, he noticed he wasn’t receiving tax bills. Eventually, in 2014, when trying to apply for a home repair program, he learned he didn’t own the house.
“I’ve been going through the red tape ever since ’14. Then they gave me The Detroit Land Bank and they were like ‘well we don’t have the house up for auction yet so you can’t buy it.’ And I said, ‘well I’m living in it.’ They were like, ‘no you can’t because we own it’, and I was like ‘no, I’m living in it.'”
In late 2021, Detroit made national news for housing scams that have plagued homeowners, causing some people to become homeless or lose tens of thousands of dollars. A headline from NBC News states, “As many as 1 in 10 tenants facing eviction in Detroit say they’ve been duped by con artists who’ve sold or rented out houses they didn’t own.”
Duane had heard of these scams and was rightly skeptical and concerned when the Detroit Land Bank Authority told him he would need to complete the Occupied Buy Back Program to own his home again. One of the requirements of the program includes saving $1,000 that would be put toward unpaid property taxes, clearing the tax record so owners can start over.
…That’s when she told me about the Buy Back Program and was saying something about a thousand dollars and I said, ‘no you ain’t about to scam me. I give you a thousand dollars thinking I’m free and clear and then all of sudden, here come the bailiffs and the sheriffs and the S.W.A.T. trying to put me out.’ So I didn’t realize the truth until… Elizabeth Hunter contacted me.” – Duane Howard
After Duane agreed to start the program and began saving for his regular monthly deposits of $150 and attending specific Zoom workshops to assist new homeowners in the program, his skepticism began to subside.
“I know it’s different agencies with the Buy Back program but Matrix Human Services is who I went through and Elizabeth Hunter, she helped me, and she eased my fear. It was like a knock on the door, ‘OK, what is this knock for,’ you know. But like she said, while you are in this program, you can’t sell the house and we can’t come take it from you, but we can take it from you if you don’t go according to our rules and bylaws of what we need you to do. And when I finally got the, ‘we through with you,’ I was like OK, now I can start fixing up the place.”
“I’m glad I got her because… it wasn’t so much of a job to her, it was her helping people stay grounded. It was her letting people know, everything isn’t against you because you messed up… stop looking at everybody is after you because you messed up and listen to the help you can get. Now I can leave my door open. I don’t have to worry about who’s knockin’. Knock all ya’ll want, because ya’ll can’t take nothing from me, thanks to [Matrix Human Services].”
If you would like to learn more about our Adult Services Programs including our Home Buyers Program, please visit: https://www.matrixhumanservices.org/socialmobility/
