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Flint expands outreach for HOPE property-tax exemption with county, nonprofit partners
Summary
City staff and county and nonprofit partners will place two outreach workers at county and legal-services locations and travel to senior centers and events to help homeowners apply for the HOPE homeowner property-tax exemption (50% reduction) targeting low-income residents.
Flint officials ordered a special discussion at Wednesday's finance committee to highlight new outreach intended to boost enrollment in the HOPE homeowners property-tax exemption. City staff said the program offers qualifying low-income homeowners a 50% reduction in property taxes and is intended to prevent tax foreclosure.
The city's presentation, introduced at the request of City Assessor Stacy Bassie, described two grants from Rocket Community Fund administered through Legal Services of Eastern Michigan and a county partner that will fund two outreach staff. Those workers will be stationed at county offices and legal-services sites and will travel to senior centers and other community locations to help residents complete HOPE exemption applications and avoid the paperwork becoming lost between agencies.
The committee heard that the program starts by handling applications for the 2023 tax year and that staff will coordinate with city PR and the county to announce outreach locations and events. Assessor Stacy Bassie told the committee the city now uses a 200% federal poverty threshold for program eligibility, higher than the county baseline, and that staff hope the new outreach will raise applications from last year's level toward a goal of several hundred more filings.
Council members praised the outreach and asked staff to coordinate community meetings and to share contact information for the county representative (Robin Temples) so neighborhood groups can schedule presentations. Committee members said they would follow up with city communications to ensure a joint press plan so residents receive consistent notices.
The committee took no final vote on policy during the discussion; staff said they would return with event and outreach dates and coordination plans for city and county communications.
