“People are already dealing with job loss so this is just compounding on other crises in their life,” says Elin Betanzo, founder of Safe Water Engineering.
In the year before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Detroit shutoff water at 3,000 homes in the city, according to the water department.
Now, the city is reaching out to all those homes disconnected — and potentially thousands more — to reconnect water on a $20-a-month payment plan, with zero cash down, in the face of widespread public closure due to the novel coronavirus.
But damage has already been done, says one expert on Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson.