Something new I have learned about Detroit is the issue of property tax when conducting background research for my placement. It definitely opened my eyes to the problems of housing that go beyond just landlords and renting. Researching the history of housing and how tax foreclosure is a common cause of why residents lose their homes was eye-opening for me. To allow companies to buy these homes and their tax to me is really unimaginably predatory.
At the same time with researching issues such as this for my placement, I find that there is not a lot of reports/literature readily available that is just focused on the disability community in Detroit. Even looking through census data, there are a lot of unknowns that are up in the air and this can fog the way we view the statistics. For example, looking at the means of transportation, most of the residents with a disability utilized a car or truck but very few used public transport. I think community engagement would be needed to understand why this is, if this is the preferred method of travel, or if urban planning/public transportation has to make accommodations to its designs. For this reason, I believe that community engagement is important for the office because no one can tell the story better than themselves.
For my community placement, the pandemic has definitely impacted the way the Office of Disability Affairs interacts with the community. Their work schedules being hybrid has been a result of the pandemic as well. The office was beginning the first steps after its establishment just a couple of months before the pandemic. I am looking forward to the opportunity to talk to community members, as the office has been collaborating with local organizations to which those members we are in the process of reaching out.
