"Fresh out of prison last summer, Jamal Johnson returned to his boarded-up home on the city’s east side and sought to rebuild his life.His sister had watched the house, but what shocked Johnson, 37, was an unpaid water bill that spiked to a staggering $3,192. The majority of the bill was generated when he was locked up for weapons violations. If unpaid, according to Flint city ordinance, Johnson would lose his home.
Johnson was one of nearly 8,000 homeowners who were in danger of having tax foreclosure proceedings start last week until the Flint City Council approved a one-year moratorium on the tax liens — which covered residents with two years of unpaid water and sewer bills going back to June 2014....
More than 100 residents showed up at last Wednesday’s raucous council meeting, upset and insulted that they could lose their homes after being charged for water they couldn’t drink and rarely, if ever, used. There was a May 19 deadline for the thousands of homeowners to pay up under a 1964 ordinance, but the officials approved a one-year reprieve in part to give them time to alter the law."
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2017/05/24/tax-foreclosure-threat-becomes-latest-hardship-flint/102085504/
Johnson was one of nearly 8,000 homeowners who were in danger of having tax foreclosure proceedings start last week until the Flint City Council approved a one-year moratorium on the tax liens — which covered residents with two years of unpaid water and sewer bills going back to June 2014....
More than 100 residents showed up at last Wednesday’s raucous council meeting, upset and insulted that they could lose their homes after being charged for water they couldn’t drink and rarely, if ever, used. There was a May 19 deadline for the thousands of homeowners to pay up under a 1964 ordinance, but the officials approved a one-year reprieve in part to give them time to alter the law."
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2017/05/24/tax-foreclosure-threat-becomes-latest-hardship-flint/102085504/