Detroit Council Urges Wayne County Tax Foreclosure Moratorium

Detroit City Council voted to urge Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree to seek a moratorium on property tax foreclosures for owner-occupied homes, setting up a public clash between the city’s legislative body and the county official responsible for collecting delinquent taxes.

The resolution, spearheaded by Council Member Latisha Johnson, calls on Sabree to take his case to the state Legislature and advocate for a pause on foreclosures affecting homeowners. The council’s position centers on a straightforward argument: when residents lose their homes to tax foreclosure, the city’s unhoused population grows, and the human cost of that cycle falls on Detroit neighborhoods.

“The Detroit City Council recognizes that the Wayne County Treasurer is obligated to follow state law in pursuing delinquent property taxes through foreclosure but further recognizes the impact such foreclosure of occupied homes has on the increased population of unhoused persons,” the resolution reads. “The Wayne County Treasurer as a foreclosing governmental unit is in a unique position to advocate to the state Legislature for a moratorium on property tax foreclosures for owner-occupied homes.”

The council acknowledges that Sabree’s hands are legally tied at the county level. State law requires the treasurer to pursue forfeiture proceedings on tax-delinquent properties. What the council is asking is that Sabree use his platform and political standing to push Lansing for relief that he cannot grant on his own authority.

Sabree’s office responded Thursday, and it did not soften the disagreement.

The treasurer’s office called the council’s resolution “political theatre,” arguing that Detroit’s high property tax rate is the largest barrier keeping residents from paying what they owe. Under the current structure, when homeowners fall behind, delinquent taxes are turned over to the treasurer’s office for collection. Sabree’s team argues that by the time those accounts land on their desk, the city has already had multiple opportunities to intervene.

“The Treasurer urges City Council to focus on addressing the root issue, high property tax rates, and to take meaningful action before delinquent taxes are turned over for collection,” the treasurer’s office said in its statement.

That framing shifts responsibility back to the city. Detroit has one of the highest effective property tax rates in Michigan, a burden that hits longtime homeowners and lower-income residents hardest. The council and the treasurer are, in effect, pointing at each other across a structural problem that neither can fully fix alone.

Sabree’s office also said it remains committed to helping owner-occupants stay in their homes and has been ramping up outreach for weeks ahead of a critical deadline.

March 31 is the cutoff to enroll in a taxpayer assistance payment plan. Residents who haven’t paid their 2023 property taxes or any taxes from prior years are currently at risk of foreclosure. Sabree has been pushing that message on social media and through direct outreach, urging residents not to wait.

“If you haven’t paid 2023 taxes or prior, you are in danger of foreclosure,” Sabree said in a recent post. “Don’t delay, don’t procrastinate, don’t wait until the last minute. Call us right now.”

The mechanics of tax foreclosure work on a three-year clock. A homeowner who stops paying property taxes enters a delinquency cycle. If the taxes remain unpaid for three years, the property is foreclosed and placed in one of two public auctions held each fall. Once a home goes to auction, the original owner loses it. For many Detroiters, especially older residents on fixed incomes or homeowners who inherited properties with complicated title histories, that clock runs out before they realize how close they are to the edge.

Wayne County is currently promoting three programs designed to help residents avoid that outcome.

The Stipulated Payment Agreement, known as REGSPA, offers a structured repayment plan for taxpayers who qualify. It allows residents who owe back taxes to pay them off over time rather than in a single lump sum. The program targets people who have the financial capacity to keep up with an installment plan but can’t cover years of delinquency all at once.

Residents who want to explore their options can call the treasurer’s office directly at (313) 224-5990 or visit WayneCountyMi.gov/Treasurer. Given that the March 31 deadline is two days away, anyone in delinquency should treat that contact information as urgent.

The dispute between the council and Sabree reflects a longer and more complicated history. Detroit saw waves of tax foreclosures in the years following the 2008 financial crisis and the city’s 2013 bankruptcy. Tens of thousands of properties cycled through the auction system. Researchers and housing advocates later documented that many of those homes were owner-occupied, and that the city had systematically over-assessed property values in lower-income neighborhoods, meaning residents were paying taxes on inflated assessments they had no practical way to challenge.

The city reached a settlement over those over-assessments, but the effects lingered. Residents who lost homes in those foreclosure years did not get them back. Neighborhoods that saw high foreclosure rates faced years of vacancy, blight, and population loss. That history sits underneath the current debate, and it is part of why Johnson’s resolution uses explicit language about the connection between foreclosure and homelessness.

The council’s argument is not just about individual hardship cases. It is about a documented pattern in which tax foreclosure functions as a mechanism that strips homeownership from lower-income and working-class residents while converting their properties into assets available for outside investors at auction prices. A moratorium, in the council’s framing, would create space for residents to catch up, for programs to reach more people, and for the Legislature to consider structural changes to how Michigan handles tax delinquency on owner-occupied homes.

Sabree’s counter-argument has its own merit. The treasurer’s office did not create Detroit’s property tax rate. It collects what the city bills. If the city lowered its tax burden or expanded exemption programs before accounts become delinquent, fewer residents would end up in the foreclosure pipeline in the first place. The treasurer’s frustration with a resolution that asks him to act on a problem he did not create is at least partly understandable.

But the council’s position is also grounded in practical reality. The Legislature is not the council’s direct pressure point. The county treasurer, who operates as a foreclosing governmental unit under state law, has standing to bring that request forward in a way that the council does not. That is the specific ask: not that Sabree unilaterally pause foreclosures, but that he use his institutional position to advocate for a change the council cannot make happen on its own.

Whether Sabree will take that step is unclear. His office’s response suggests he views the resolution as a deflection rather than a genuine policy proposal. That may mean the two sides stay in their corners while the March 31 deadline passes and the 2025 foreclosure auction cycle continues on schedule.

For residents reading this: if you have unpaid property taxes from 2023 or earlier, the deadline to enroll in a payment plan is Tuesday, March 31. That date does not move. The treasurer’s office number is (313) 224-5990. The website is WayneCountyMi.gov/Treasurer. The political argument between the council and the treasurer’s office will continue after Tuesday. The enrollment window will not.