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Detroit Partnership on Economic Mobility

Despite some signs of an economic resurgence in Detroit, city residents still face systemic challenges rooted in a history of racial discrimination and segregation.

  • Detroit has a poverty rate of 31.5%, which is about three times higher than the national average.
  • In Detroit, the child poverty rate is even higher, at 51% in 2024.
  • Though Detroit experienced a strong economic recovery after the Great Recession, the city’s unemployment rate remained above the national average in 2025, and only 55% of working-age adults are participating in the labor force.

Since 2018, the Partnership on Economic Mobility established by Poverty Solutions has created high-impact opportunities for the City of Detroit and community-based organizations to identify and implement concrete, evidence-based strategies that significantly improve economic opportunity and reduce poverty in Detroit.

City officials and community leaders identify topics of interest, and U-M scholars conduct rigorous analysis to inform responses to economic mobility issues, in hopes of providing the knowledge needed to help solve challenges faced by Detroit residents.

What we do:

  • Advise city officials and community groups on
    evidence-based strategies to enhance economic
    mobility.
  • Provide technical support and data analysis in the
    implementation of economic mobility initiatives.
  • Evaluate intiatives to measure both short- and longterm
    impacts on economic mobility.
  • Offer evidence-based policy analysis at the city, state,
    and federal level.

Learn more about community engagement projects in Detroit.

Housing

Analyzing the long-term impacts of foreclosure and property speculation

Poverty Solutions supported research that highlighted the connection between Detroit’s long-lasting mortgage and tax foreclosure crises, property speculation, high rates of eviction, and large numbers of demolitions. The research helped contribute to the City’s efforts to file a lawsuit against a number of Detroit’s most notorious property speculators.

Stopping the Eviction Machine in Detroit

Analyzing the scale of home repair needs in Detroit

Poverty Solutions research highlighted the connection between Detroit’s mortgage and tax foreclosure crises, property speculation, high eviction rates, and large numbers of demolitions. The research contributed to the city’s efforts to file a lawsuit against Detroit’s most notorious property speculators.

A Decent Home: The Status of Home Repair in Detroit

Evaluation of the Make it Home Repair program

Several ongoing initiatives are seeking to provide low-cost pathways to homeownership for low-income Detroit households. However, many homes are in need of significant repair, threatening long-term housing stability. Poverty Solutions evaluated a flexible, low-cost home repair program to help new homeowners address emergency repairs, to improve long-term stability. We also maintain a Detroit Home Repair Resource Guide that points residents and service providers to available resources.

Reinforcing Low-income Homeownership through Home Repair: Evaluation of the Make It Home Repair Program

Making land contracts work

Much of the research on land contracts finds them to be exploitative. However, mission-driven organizations in Southeast Michigan have used supportive land contracts to enable homeownership for credit-constrained households. Poverty Solutions and its partners explored supportive land contracts as a path to homeownership and the policies needed to reduce predatory land contracts. This informed legislation in two states.

Explore our all of our work on Affordable Housing and Homelessness

Education

Educational implications of student homelessness

Poverty Solutions sheds light on the educational and well-being impacts of homelessness on children in Detroit, with the goal of identifying opportunities for policy changes that enable children to thrive.

See our homelessness research agenda

Health

Community Health Workers

U-M researchers and the Detroit Health Department teamed up to pilot a new model for employing community health workers in the Cody Rouge neighborhood.

Improving health and strengthening communities

 

Financial well-being

Investing in Us

Poverty Solutions researchers reviewed over 10 years of community-level reports, city planning efforts, and newspaper articles that captured the voices of Detroit residents, in an effort to better understand Detroiters’ vision for economic mobility and well-being in their city, their priorities for change, and how those priorities have shifted or remained constant over the past decade. The report will serve as a foundation from which we will pursue strategic policies and programs that respond to resident priorities outlined in the report.

Investing in Us

The financial well-being of Detroit residents

In order to promote economic mobility in Detroit, we must first understand the financial barriers faced by its residents, which often stem from systemic and racialized policy failures. In partnership with the United Way of Southeast Michigan, Poverty Solutions compiled data that outlines what we know about the financial well-being of Detroit residents, and recommends strategies for enhancing economic mobility.

The Financial Well-being of Detroit Residents: What do we know?

Reparations

Harms report lays the foundation for reparations

The Detroit Reparations Task Force called upon several U-M partners to develop a harms report to inform their recommendations to Detroit City Council. The report documents and analyzes the historical policies that have contributed to inequity for Black Detroiters in the areas of housing, public health, drug policy and policing, education, and employment and economic development.

See the Detroit harms report

Detroit Metro Area Communities Study

As Detroit continues to evolve, residents’ opinions need to be part of the conversation about the city’s future. Since 2016, University of Michigan’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study (DMACS) has used a representative city-wide survey to help bridge the gap between Detroit officials and residents whose voices may not always be heard in public discussions. Insights from each wave of the survey can inform city policies and community programming to produce better outcomes for Detroit residents. DMACS is supported by a partnership between Poverty Solutions and the Population Studies Center at U-M. 

Learn more about DMACS

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Contact Us

Poverty Solutions invites interested city staff, U-M faculty, and others to submit questions or opportunities for collaborative research or data analysis projects. Any idea is welcome, so long as it aligns with our collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and promote economic mobility in Detroit.