Michigan’s 2026 gubernatorial race is underway, and MichMash is talking to all of the major candidates. In this week’s episode, WDET host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben sit down with Former State House Speaker Tom Leonard to learn why he’s running and what sets him apart from other candidates.

Plus, Cheyna and Alethia explain the current status of Michigan’s 2026 fiscal budget.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode: 

• Why wasn’t the 2026 fiscal budget approved by the July 1 deadline?
• Why is Tom Leonard running for governor?

Highlights

On Duggan running as an Independent

One of the outliers of the 2026 gubernatorial race is Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan running as an Independent. Leonard says that despite Duggan’s party affiliation change, not much else has.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, the mayor is a Democrat. He is not an Independent,” Leonard told MichMash. “If somebody were to ask him right now where he breaks away from the Democrats on any major issue, I don’t think he could give one.”

Leonard went on to say that he believes Duggan in the race affects Democrats more than Republicans.

On the state budget’s delay

It’s been a month since the July 1 deadline, and the Michigan legislature still hasn’t approved the budget for the 2026 fiscal year. What’s causing the state capitol to fall behind schedule?

“A disagreement over unrelated legislation … led to Republican House Speaker Matt Hall kicking the ranking Democrat Rep. Albus Farhat of Dearborn off of the Appropriations Committee,” Alethia explained. “He was the lead Democrat trying to help negotiate this budget deal.”

As the academic year draws closer, many schools and are creating contingency plans in case the budget isn’t approved before the state fiscal year starts in October.

For months, Detroiters and suburbanites have had their eyes on the mayoral race. That’s for good reason: Mayor Mike Duggan is running for governor and the mayoral race is the most competitive it’s been in years. It’s also very likely that the city will have a Black mayor once again.

But other races in Detroit deserve attention. Twenty-two candidates are competing in the Detroit City Council primary races. Those seats matter — the people who win those positions are the city’s legislators. They decide what ordinances get passed, what norms are established, and which ones fade away. 

Bridge Detroit has been hosting town halls in every Detroit district leading up to Tuesday’s primary election. For more on what issues are uniting and dividing residents, The Metro brought into the WDET studios the two people leading those town halls: journalists Bryce Huffman and Malachi Barrett.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

More stories from The Metro

This summer is tracking to be the hottest on record… but it could be among the coolest summers we have for the rest of our lives. That’s the takeaway of a recent article from the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit made up of climate scientists founded at MIT in 1969. Scientists have warned of global warming for decades now, and the need for more urgent action. That’s because avoiding the worst effects of manmade climate change will require cooperation on a global scale.

But a large paradigm shift must involve city governments and local power players too. Detroit’s primary election for mayor and city council is this coming Tuesday, August 5, and whoever takes the reins as Detroit’s next mayor will be in a unique position to get Detroit ready for the climate that has already changed significantly.

Ellen Vial is the Detroit Program Manager for the Michigan Environmental Council. The council is a coalition of organizations that have created a thorough, 48-page environmental voter guide, and Ellen is on The Metro this morning to discuss the depths of our climate crisis and what Detroiters can do about it.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

More stories from The Metro

Early voting underway in Detroit’s primary election

Early voting is underway in Detroit’s primary election. Voters can use an absentee ballot or cast their vote at one of the city’s eight early voting centers. Those centers are open this week from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Nine candidates are on the primary ballot vying to become Detroit’s next mayor. The top two vote-getters will go on to face each other in the November general election. Several candidates for City Council also appear on the primary ballot.

Early voting ends on Sunday. Detroiters can also vote in person on Primary Day, which is one week from today — Tuesday, August 5.

Learn more about upcoming elections with WDET’s 2025 Detroit Voter Guide »

Heavy storms cause flooding across Detroit

Many Detroiters spent part of the evening cleaning up after heavy thunderstorms rolled through the area Monday afternoon. Rain amounts varied widely across the region, but some Detroit streets were temporarily flooded by heavy rainfall.

The I-96 westbound exit ramp to the Southfield Freeway was backed up with heavy traffic and closed for a short time after the storms passed. At Metro Airport, several roads were closed by flooding, forcing passengers to scramble to make their flights.

Meteorologists say an area near Romulus received nearly three inches of rain in just an hour.

Detroit launches first municipal start-up fund

The City of Detroit and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation have launched the city’s first municipal start-up fund. The fund will award 20 grants of $15,000 each and six additional grants of $50,000 each.

Detroit Economic Growth Corporation CEO Kevin Johnson says the grants will give new non-retail businesses a better chance to survive.

“Being an entrepreneur is a battle to survive. Ideas mean one thing, but when you can’t cultivate it to a point where it becomes a reasonable business, then we’re recycling old things that cause them to fail,” Johnson said.

Entrepreneurs must have been in business for at least two years and be based in Detroit to be eligible for the grants.

Reporting by Bre’Anna Tinsley

Gas prices drop in Metro Detroit

Gas prices are falling in Metro Detroit. The average price of self-serve regular is now $3.19 per gallon. That’s down three cents from last week and seven cents lower than a month ago.

The national average for gas is just over $3.13 per gallon.

Tigers trade for two pitchers ahead of MLB deadline

The Detroit Tigers have completed a trade just a few days before the Major League Baseball deadline.

The team was looking to bolster its pitching staff and received right-hand pitchers Chris Paddack and Randy Dobnak from the Minnesota Twins. In exchange, the Twins received catcher Enrique Jiminez and a minor league prospect.

The Tigers needed pitching help with Reese Olsen missing the rest of the regular season due to a shoulder sprain. He could return for the playoffs.

Detroit currently holds a record of 62 wins and 46 losses and sits in first place in the American League Central.

Detroit’s mayoral candidates agree the city needs more affordable housing but have different ideas to solve the problem. 

Retired businessman Joel Haashiim says if he were mayor, he’d create a municipal building company to manufacture housing. 

“It’s a great industry,” he says. “It’s something where we can create 10,000 Detroit resident jobs.”

Haashiim also says it would diversify the city’s economy.

“We basically rely on the auto plants and the small service industries that maintain the local economy,” he says. “This will give us an opportunity to put billions of dollars into our city treasury, as well as in the community.”

Haashiim says he would also work with financial institutions to make buying a home more affordable.

“30- to 50-year mortgages are what we want to introduce into Detroit,” he says. “This will allow us to compensate for the high cost of building.”

If they build it, will people come?

By creating a larger number of affordable homes, Haashiim says he hopes to accelerate Detroit’s population growth. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the city gained about 6,000 residents since the decennial head count in 2020. He says the key is to attract more business.

“We are an international city with no international companies,” Haashiim says. “I’m the only candidate who has done 15 international business delegations around this country, bringing in companies to this metro area.”

Haashiim says he would also invest in public projects and education to lure new residents to Detroit.

“We do want to bring in families,” he says. “We want to make sure we reach out to them as a city that’s interested in making sure that our children can compete in the 21st century.”

Haashiim is one of nine mayoral candidates on the Aug. 5 ballot. Arnold Boyd and Rogelio Landin are running write-in campaigns. The top two finishers in the primary will run against each other in November.

Mayor Mike Duggan is not seeking re-election. He’s waging an independent campaign for governor in 2026.

Learn more about upcoming elections with WDET’s 2025 Detroit Voter Guide »

Detroiters face a pivotal primary election, and early voting is already underway. 

For the first time in a dozen years Mayor Mike Duggan is not seeking reelection.

The candidates vying to replace Duggan differ on the specific policies they want to pursue. But most agree one of Detroit’s pressing needs is increasing its supply of affordable housing.

Candidate DaNetta Simpson says she has a plan to address the situation that would help residents pay to fix-up their current housing. She says it’s just one of several issues driving her bid as an independent candidate for the top job in Detroit’s city government.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

DaNetta Simpson: What I would do, as far as the neighborhoods, is set up an insurance program for the residents to pay into for repairs for their homes. And we’re not going to go by income, only that they’re occupied and that they are on the tax rolls. All you have to do is show proof of ownership and pay a monthly or yearly fee. We will put all this money in one particular bank account, let it draw interest and then have it go to repairing our neighborhoods.

I will also freeze the property taxes while we’re doing these repairs. I will also grandfather the property taxes for people that’s been in the neighborhoods for more than 20–30 years.

Also, crime in our communities is out of hand. Gun control is out of hand. I want to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands. Now don’t take me wrong, we do not want to take your firearms. We just want responsible owners. And there’s people out here that cannot own firearms.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: So, what would you do to keep them out of the wrong hands?

DS: I will have enforcement in public places to search for them. Or post signage stating that firearms are prohibited from being there when they’re carried by people that’s not licensed to have them. We need a gun trafficking law that will stop the drive-by shootings in the neighborhoods. I know we can’t control the way an individual thinks. But at least if we have a law on the books to prevent the shootings from happening; maybe they won’t commit those crimes in places like parks. Kids are getting killed at the parks, getting wounded at the annual fireworks display, in large crowds at concerts, bars. We can control some of that. And it’s time for us to make our public places safe. Fix up our neighborhoods as well and children will not see blight again.

QK: Detroit will be running out of the pandemic relief money that the city used for various projects. It’s been allocated. Just about every candidate running for mayor now says the city needs to find new sources of revenue. Do you agree with that? And where would you look to find new revenue?

DS: Yes, I do agree with that. But everyone in Detroit is not eligible for loans. So my program, insurance deterioration, will cover everyone. And this will bring in revenue for repairing the homes, gutters, porches, roofs, sidewalk repairs, your fences, your garages, etc. We got to get the homes fixed up and safe so people can be in livable conditions.

QK: As part of that, you’ve talked about instituting some new policies regarding trash pickup in the city?

DS: Yes, that can be revenue for the city as well. Because there are people out here who are not paying for trash pickup. I know apartment buildings have a different ordinance. But if everyone pays for trash pickup along with their occupancy certificates, that will help deter blight in the neighborhoods. Because when tenants have to vacate premises, they leave them full of trash. Some of them put the trash on the streets where it doesn’t belong. So, I feel that they need to pay for a trash fee.

QK: Some of the other candidates have mentioned possibly having to create some new local taxes, service taxes. Would you favor that kind of approach as well?

DS: No, I feel that we’ve been taxed enough. That’s the old way to do things, raising taxes, cutting here, cutting there. We need some new ideas. We can’t run the city the old way. They are still trying to run the city like when the taxes first started on properties. We can’t keep taxing the citizens.

QK: The person that’s been running the city for the last dozen years, Mayor Mike Duggan, is not going to be running it anymore. He’s not seeking reelection, he’s running for governor. When you look at what Duggan has done, do you see things that you want to build on? Or is there some other direction you think the city should go?

DS: The difference between him and I, is that he was previously a Democrat and I have always been an independent. I have suggested some of my ideas to his administration and he has followed them. Those ideas are criminal expungements and swapping the old jail for Dan Gilbert to buy the site to develop on. I have been a part of the change and I would like to continue that. And this deterioration insurance will be a change for Detroit.

QK: You have made a couple of runs previously for mayor. Is there something you see differently that you can propose this time than in your previous campaigns?

DS: I would say I still have the same ideas. But when you don’t have the money to reach the people, when you don’t have radio time, television time and you don’t have the money for mailings, then you can’t reach all the constituents like the other candidates can.

QK: So this time you think you’re getting your message out more widely?

DS: Yes.

QK: I typically ask anyone who is running for an office what their pitch would be in the end to voters. So what would you tell Detroiters? Why would you be the best candidate for mayor compared to all the others campaigning right now?

DS: Because I will show independent thinking. The others want to raise taxes. I have something to offer the citizens where we don’t need to raise the taxes. We just need to stand on our own two feet and we can fix our neighborhoods ourselves. I will be an independent thinker instead of a dependent thinker.

QK: Dependent on what?

DS: Dependent upon the old. And it’s not the old that will take us to the next level. We need fresh ideas in here.

This week on MichMash, gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II sat down with WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben to explain why he’s running for governor of Michigan and how his engineering background could help.

Plus, we take a look at fundraising progress from the rest of the gubernatorial candidates.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• Why is Lt. Gov. Gilchrist running for governor?
• How much money have Michigan gubernatorial candidates raised so far?

Engineering change

Gilchrist graduated with two engineering degrees from the University of Michigan. Now as he runs to be the next governor of Michigan while still serving as lieutenant governor of Michigan, he views both jobs as serving the same purpose.

“I have one job, and that is to have as many conversations as possible with people across Michigan every single day … and then to take what they tell me and go make something happen,” he told MichMash. “People need a problem solver in office and that’s what I do as an engineer. I make systems work for people.”

Fundraising updates

All gubernatorial candidates, including Gilchrist, were required to report their first fundraising hauls this week. But despite this major milestone, the race is far from determined.

Democratic candidates include Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II. Benson has raised $3.5 million in the first six months of her campaign, Swanson has raised $1 million and Gilchrist has raised $750,000. 

While the Democratic field has appeared to settle, the Republican field seems more in flux. Former House Speaker Tom Leonard entered the race just a month ago, and a few weeks ago, 2022 Republican Gubernatorial Nominee Tudor Dixon announced she would not be running in 2026. Other candidates may still enter the race, and it’s possible that U.S. Rep. John James may back out of his gubernatorial bid amid pressure from President Donald Trump to maintain his congressional seat.

But for now, the main Republican candidates are Leonard, Senate Republican Leader Eric Nesbitt, James and former Attorney General Mike Cox. As the deadline to submit fundraising reports isn’t until 5 p.m. on Friday, we didn’t have all the data at the time this episode was recorded on Thursday afternoon. But we do know that Cox has raised $1.4 million and and that James moved $500,000 from his congressional committee to his gubernatorial committee earlier this month.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is also running for governor as an Independent, and his fundraising report had not yet been submitted at the time of this recording.

Registered voters not casting a vote is a problem in the city, one that seems to be bigger here than in other Midwest cities. 

In Central Ohio’s Franklin County, the 2024 presidential election turnout was 66%. In Milwaukee, it was 85%. In Chicago, it was about 68% — and that’s the lowest it’s been in 80 years. But in Detroit, during the same election year, it was just 47%. 

Mara Ostfeld is the research director at the Center for Racial Justice and a professor at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. She joined The Metro on Wednesday to share insights into why some Detroit residents don’t vote, and how to increase voter turnout. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

More stories from The Metro

Detroit is just a few weeks away from a pivotal primary election that will decide the two final contenders to become the city’s next mayor.

WDET is listening to the voice of Detroit voters as part of our Citizen Vox Project.

George Goff is one of those voters. He lives in Detroit’s Jefferson – Chalmers community.

Goff says he’s following the mayoral race, but he’s still waiting to hear candidates address his concerns.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

George Goff: I am still disappointed they’re not talking about public policy. There’s a lot of environmental issues in Detroit and no one wants to address that.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: When you say environmental issues, especially if you’re on Jefferson and Chalmers, is it in terms of trying to prevent flooding, in terms of possible contamination in the waterways, all of the above?

GG: All of the above. We thought it was DTE Energy that had the problem. But it was another company, and you can smell [what’s left from the flooding] all the way up to Mack Ave. That’s a problem. You have the canals, they’re flooding constantly. And my home was flooded five times. FEMA is not doing anything. The city hasn’t done anything. And that’s a problem.

QK: Obviously whoever becomes mayor, you’d want them to address that kind of issue. I would think. What other issues, if any, do you see as important to the city that should be worked on?

GG: The other thing is that people are losing their homes now. It’s a new pandemic. Seniors are not able to keep their homes because insurance companies say they’re not going to be covered when things go astray. That’s a major problem in the city of Detroit right now.

QK: What would you suggest that whoever would be the next mayor do to try to help with that?

GG: They need to have policies in place for that, for the future. I know the city is working on a new pipeline waterway system. But they have to do more than that. They’re tearing up the streets on Jefferson Ave. and by the park and there is still sewage backing up.

QK: This will be the first time in a dozen years that Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is not running for reelection. What have you thought of the job he’s done? And what do you think a future mayor should do? Should they build on some of what he’s done or go in a different direction?

“The social middle class of the city of Detroit is suffering. We need to make sure we’re able to live in Detroit with all these high inflation rates.”

– George Goff, Detroit voter

GG: I think Mike Duggan has done a great job for the city. I want to see the next mayor do some of the things that Duggan had put in place. But I need them to go beyond, especially for the middle class. The social middle class of the city of Detroit is suffering. We need to make sure we’re able to live in Detroit with all these high inflation rates.

They had a problem with the county deeds, they are having problems with taxes, they’re having problems with the upkeep of housing, and we’re losing a lot. Detroit could be a first-class city and it’s not anymore. So the next mayor has to get on the ground and start making way for the future of the city of Detroit. If we don’t, we will go back into bankruptcy.

QK: You think it’s that dire of a situation that bankruptcy could be a possibility?

GG: I think it’s very possible. Because they’re skirting around the real issues. People have gone to city council and shared their voice and it’s like, OK, we’ll look into that. But no one is looking into it. The flooding, people losing their homes, the taxes, common things they’re not doing. Look at the city transportation. And then crime now. There’s no activities for youth. They need to open-up recreation centers on the weekends, have midnight basketball or something. We need something for our youth. The parks are great but we need better policing of the parks.

Here on The Metro, we’ve been talking to Detroit’s mayoral candidates about how they would lead if elected, and what they would prioritize as the city’s next mayor.

Outlier Media Civic Life Reporter Briana Rice has also been covering the Detroit mayoral race. She recently customized a fun tool for Outlier called the Meet Your Mayor Quiz to help Detroit voters compare candidates and discover which individuals align best with their priorities. 

The 21-question quiz matches voters with candidates based on their views about housing, safety and other key issues. Outlier was able to create and localize the quiz thanks to the nonprofit newsroom THE CITY in New York City, which made the code open source for all to use.

Rice joined The Metro to share more about the quiz and how voters are utilizing it.

Take the quiz here.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

More stories from The Metro

Detroit voters will elect a new mayor this fall. Nine people are running to succeed Mike Duggan, who’s making an independent bid for governor next year. The top two finishers in next month’s primary election will advance to the general election in November.

WDET is having one-on-one conversations with voters about the issues they want the next mayor and city council to address. We call it the Citizen Vox Project.

WDET’s Bre’Anna Tinsley spoke with Eugene Brown II, a resident of Detroit’s Brightmoor neighborhood on the city’s west side, about why he says honesty and action matters in the city’s next leader.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Eugene Brown II: Because we’re not too big on the words anymore. We need to see action, movement, growth, development, and these are all things that are taking place now in the city of Detroit and have been taking place for the past 15 years. So, we have always been at work setting up things, having successful things happen by by way of the water department. Even initiating the things that have happened with the Gordie Howe Bridge. You see what I’m saying? So, we’ve been hard at work, really, in the streets.

Bre’Anna Tinsley, WDET News: Who do you think right now is the best person for the job? Do you have someone in mind?

EB II: Well, you know, when I look at Mary Sheffield — I usually don’t, I usually don’t endorse people. But when I look at the Sheffield brand, it’s pretty solid.

BT: What is it specifically about her brand that speaks out to you?

EB II: Well I would you say from past to present. And then you could probably say to yourself, if you know certain people that have that name, then you probably can say that for yourself. You can put it together however you want to put together. I don’t name drop, but you could just look at that and just put it together and see. And then if she lying, she’d be called out, just like anybody else is.

BT: Is there anything specifically in your neighborhood that you would like to see the mayor possibly work on?

EB II: Well, our neighborhood is pretty solid. We’re pretty much a group of family. The only really thing that we really focus on here is protection, peace, happiness, love, no violence, no killings, no stabbings, no robbings; none of that stuff out here. We don’t need any of that. I came from the ’80s. I already lived through all that — ’90s drug era, crack epidemic, Devil’s Night. You see, then ‘YN’ crazy culture, like whatever we’re dealing with right now. But the Detroit Police Department is doing a very fine job, as well as the adjacent, you know, task force that have been set up for the 25 years [sic].We all know this Wayne State progression. It’s a beautiful thing to see people coming together in the city to handle life differently after things were so ripped off, like the water department. We received about a what, 25% pay cut in 2008 to actually help with this process. We actually helped with this process because we were robbed of our money. Well, not robbed. I’ll say… our money was put in trust.

We are investors in the Gordie Howe project, because we had to take the blow of this for the citizens of Detroit to drink water to live, and to flush their boo boo down the pipes so they don’t die. So, you know, we’ve really been hard at work, city of Detroit Water Department, so as far as I’m concerned, since we worked the waters, a portion of these assets that they’re wanting to collect, we should probably be repaid. So, I’d like to see that happen, because all those brothers, they live in this community, too.

On the latest episode of the Detroit Evening Report Weekends, WDET News Director and Detroit Evening Report host Jerome Vaughn shares a conversation he had with Jeremy Allen, the executive editor of the Michigan Chronicle, at the 2025 Mackinac Policy Conference.

They talked about the issues likely to be top of mind for voters as they prepare for Detroit’s August mayoral primary and how Detroit’s unique news landscape supports residents during election seasons.

Listen to the episode using the media player above.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Most candidates vying to become Detroit’s next mayor agree the city’s high property tax rates remain a barrier to home ownership and attracting more residents. 

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

They say Detroit needs to find new revenue streams, especially now that the city has allocated all of its pandemic relief funding. 

On WDET’s The Metro, Detroit mayoral candidate and City Council President Mary Sheffield said Detroit must increase partnerships with the private sector. 

“I do not believe that we can tax our way out of anything. That’s one tool to have in the tool box. But overall we want to continue to increase our population, we want to continue to provide good-paying jobs because when that happens we get revenue back to Detroit through property tax and income tax,” she said. 

Sheffield and rival candidate Saunteel Jenkins say the city should explore creating a local sales tax. 

Other contenders — like council member Fred Durhal III — say Detroit should target new investment from green energy and tech firms. 

But mayoral candidate Solomon Kinloch argues the city cannot grow its way to prosperity without help from state lawmakers.

– Reporting by Quinn Klinefelter, WDET.

Other headlines for Thursday, July 17, 2025:

• Dearborn City Council voted Tuesday to restrict Airbnb and other short term rental units to the downtown area. The decision was in response to some residents who have complained about parties and parking in their neighborhoods.  The zoning amendments will take effect on Jan. 1. 
• Local prisoners will be receiving a new opportunity from Wayne State University. The university’s Prison Education Program allows inmates to receive a bachelor’s in sociology with a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation, starting fall 2025. Staff say the major was chosen because of its broad reach and the transferrable skills that come from a strong background in liberal arts.
• Wayne State University is launching a women’s varsity soccer team beginning the 2026-27 academic year. It’s the first new varsity sport brought to the university in more than a decade. The new team will play in NCAA Division II as part of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, with home matches on the lit turf stadium next to Tom Adams Field. The search for a head coach will begin this summer.  

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Affordable housing has been a major issue for many voters in Detroit.

In fact, according to recent University of Michigan surveys, housing affordability is a top priority for residents. In the majority renter city that is Detroit, 60% of those renters are cost-burdened — meaning they spend over 30% of their income on housing costs.

A lack of affordable housing is considered one of the root causes of homelessness. In 2024, a one-night count conducted by the city of Detroit and two local nonprofits showed a 16% increase in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park’s homeless population compared to the year before.

Ted Phillips, executive director for the United Community Housing Coalition, and Nushrat Rahman, economic mobility reporter for the Detroit Free Press and BridgeDetroit, joined the show to discuss the drivers of and possible solutions to this growing problem.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

More stories from The Metro

Only about one out of every five people in the city of Detroit voted during the last mayoral election.

Now a similar small percentage of the electorate will likely determine who leads the city for the next four years, as long-time Mayor Mike Duggan makes a bid to become governor.

WDET is talking with voters about the candidates and issues that matter to them as part of our Citizen Vox Project.

That includes 60-year-old downtown resident Monica Davie.

She says the city faces a crucial crossroads.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Monica Davie: (Interview edited for clarity.) The conscience of Detroit is at stake. I think we need someone who has experience in both private and public sectors. I think our candidates are well-intended and that they love the city. Any one of them would be very good. But we need great.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Do you have a particular candidate in mind yet?

MD: I am supporting Saunteel Jenkins. She started her early career in public service. Think she has persevered over some personal and professional challenges. Her service on the Detroit City Council was very, very good. I think she had an opportunity to showcase her talents and has done a great job with THAW (The Heat and Warmth Fund, a nonprofit assistance agency.) I think that she has protected and supported at-risk and underserved populations in the city. I think we need that kind of leadership.

QK: You already mentioned some issues. But what others in the city would you like to see whoever becomes the next mayor address?

MD: I’d like to see as much attention and money spent in the neighborhoods as is in downtown. What happens when folks are visiting a community and the lights go out? Is it still welcoming to the individuals? We have got this tag phrase of the “old Detroit” and the “new Detroit.” There’s no such thing. It’s just one Detroit. And there’s a group of individuals that held Detroit down, as we say, when the lights were out, so I’d like to see them respected.

I don’t know how we have a big, beautiful metropolis and still have individuals traversing through that are homeless and we’re not building big, beautiful shelters for them and giving them a leg-up. They don’t need a hand-out, they want a hand-up. And we have the mechanisms and the resources to do it right here in the city of Detroit. So, I would like to see an individual be really focused on sharing the wealth, spreading the wealth, making sure the individuals in the city of Detroit, no matter who they are, get some of these skilled trades jobs training. That whole component is important. Even though our political landscape is threatening adult education and skilled trades, I would like to see us focus on it in the city of Detroit. I don’t want to see us moving our low-income and at-risk individuals out to the suburbs, our homeless out to the suburbs. I’d like to see them integrated and supported in the city while we continue to build.

QK: This will be the first time in about 12 years that Mike Duggan is not running for mayor. What have you thought of the job that he’s done? And do you see things he’s done that you think the next mayor should either build upon or perhaps go beyond?

MD: I’ll be honest, I was not originally a supporter of Duggan. But I think he has a brilliant mind and I think that he’s galvanized and exposed some real challenges that we have in the city. I think that he’s tried to take a swing at them, like some of the blight and tearing-down some of the vacant homes and some of the urban farms and some of the subsidies that he’s offered. I think he’s done a good job. I’m appreciative of his leadership overall. I would like to see the next mayor follow that blueprint, look at his historical footprint, sort of put their own spin on it and bring us some new and innovative things with that base still in place. Not someone that he’s just endorsing, but someone that can think like him and call upon him for support when they need him.