Flooding Grows More Common in Southeastern Michigan

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Flooding in Southeastern Michigan continues to grow more common as weather patterns shift. In the summer of 2021 alone there have been at least three major flooding events, leaving hundreds of people with waterlogged basements, furniture and more. While the amount of rain certainly has an impact on the frequency of flooding, so does aging water infrastructure and various other household and neighborhood factors.

According to the June 2021 report “Household Flooding in Detroit” by Healthy Urban Waters, in partnership with the Wayne State Center for Urban Studies and others, 43 percent of 4,667 Detroit households surveyed between 2012-2020 reported household flooding. Furthermore, in an online Detroit Office of Sustainability survey published in 2018, 13 percent of those survey reported they experienced flooding very often; 23 percent reported they experienced flooding somewhat often and 32 percent reported they experienced it occasionally. Additionally, a cross-sectional study published in 2016 of 164 homes in Detroit’s Warrendale neighborhood indicated that 64 percent of homes experienced at least one flooding event in during that, with many experiencing three or four events, according to the report.

While we have the data on Detroit flooding, recent anecdotal tales tell us how cities throughout Southeastern Michigan—the Grosse Pointes, Dearborn and more—also continue to be affected by the surge of rain during storm events. Old infrastructure certainly impacts how a rain event affects a community, but so do other factors, such as the age of a home and if it is a rental versus being an owner-occupied unit.

According to the “Household Flooding in Detroit” study, Detroit renters were 1.7 times more likely to report household flooding than homeowners. In a different study, the 2021 Detroit Citizen Survey, individuals were provided a list of home problems and asked to identify which ones apply to their house or apartment. There were 570 respondents to this question and of those a total of 1,111 problems were recorded; four of the five top problems (mentioned by 83% of householders) concerned water in the home (from plumbing to flooding).

The first map above shows the hot and cold spots of flooding in Detroit using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic. Red dots represent “hot” spots of statistically significant clusters of homes that have experienced flooding. Purple dots represent clusters of homes that have not report flooding. The map reflects responses from a sample of 4,667 Detroit households who participated in the Center for Urban Studies’ Home Safety Assessment survey between 2012 and 2020. Among these households, 2,546 (42.75%) reported household flooding. As shown in the first map, the “hot” spots for household flooding in the City are located in clusters in the north end of the City, in the Jefferson Chalmers area near the river and Grosse Pointe Park, the East Village/Indian Village areas and in the Warrendale/Rosedale Park/Michigan Marin areas. Also note, some of these “hot” spot flooding areas in Detroit border other areas that have experienced flooding during recent rain storms, such as Dearborn and Grosse Pointe Park.

The second map shows 2015 data of the percent of renters, by Census tract, in Detroit. Those Census tracts with “hot” flooding spots also have at least 30 percent of the population renting and data shows that neighborhoods with a larger proportion of renters (compared to owners) and homes built before 1939 are more likely to experience household flooding. According to the Census Bureau, about 33 percent of the City’s housing stock was built before 1939.

The flooding study also found that primarily Black communities were found to be at high risk for household flooding; according to the Census Bureau, 78 percent of Detroit’s population is Black.

So, while we know that flooding affects some communities in Southeastern Michigan more than others and that the risk for the region will only increase as the effects of climate change grow, there actions that can be taken to mitigate flood damage. Updating water and sewer infrastructure to increase its reliability is a high, yet expensive, priority to help decrease the risk of in-home flood events for communities at-large. Investment in green infrastructure, such as rain gardens, is another option as is identifying parts of communities most prone to flooding and further investigating the specifics behind it. But again, these require time and money and municipalities regularly struggle to maintain their infrastructure, let alone allow for major upgrades.

Infrastructure investment is necessary, but so are larger actions to help slow the affects of climate change.

Majority of Southeastern Michigan Counties Lose Non-Hispanic White Population

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Preliminary data from the 2020 Decennial Census was recently released, including population and race and ethnicity data. Below we explore the racial makeup of each county in Southeastern Michigan according to the 2020 Census and how those numbers changed between 2010 and 2020. Overall, the charts below show that the Non-Hispanic white population makes up the highest percentage of each county’s population in the region. However, five of the seven counties lost a percentage of that population (Washtenaw and Livingston counties gained) yet gained other racial and ethnic populations.

Overall, Monroe County had the highest percentage of a certain population gain between 2010 and 2020 for any racial or ethnic background at 528 percent for the “Non-Hispanic Other” designation by the 2020 Census. This racial/ethnic group also had the highest percentage gain for each county in the region. Other data points to note are how St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne counties all lost a percentage of their black populations while the other four counties in the region (Livingston, Macomb, Monroe and Oakland counties) all gained a percentage of that population between 2010 and 2020. Macomb County had the highest percentage increase in its black population between 2010 and 2020 percent at 50 percent, followed by Livingston County with a 44 percent increase and Monroe County with a 28 percent increase.

Another racial group each county in Southeastern Michigan gained was the Asian population between 2010 and 2020. Oakland County gained the highest percentage at 56 percent, followed by Macomb County which experienced a 53 percent increase in its Asian population between 2010 and 2020, according to the 2020 Census.

Each pie chart below shows what the 2020  racial makeup of each county in Southeastern Michigan was, according to the 2020 Census. As noted, the Non-Hispanic white population made up the highest percentage of each county’s population in the region, however some counties in the region were, and remain to be, more diverse than others. Wayne County had the highest percentage of a black population, despite a population loss of that racial group between 2010 and 2020, at 37 percent. As mentioned, Macomb County had the highest percentage increase in its black population between 2010 and 2020 percent at 50 percent, followed by Livingston County with a 44 percent increase and Monroe County with a 28 percent increase. Of those counties, the percentage of black residents in Macomb County in 2020 was 12 percent; in Livingston County that percentage was 1 percent and in Monroe County that percentage was 3 percent.

Conversely, Livingston County had the highest percentage of the Non-Hispanic white population at 91 percent, in which there was a 2.5 percent population increase of between 2010 and 2020.

So, overall while some of these counties did experience notable gains in certain populations, such as the black and Non-Hispanic “other” and “multi” populations, the overall percentage some racial ethnic groups gained still did not bring them even close to making up the majority of a county’s overall population group.

As 2020 Census data continues to become more available, we will further explore what population changes have occurred over the last 10 years in Southeastern Michigan. We do know, as shown above, that there have been overall population gains and losses in each county and racial and ethnic population gains and losses. Being able to dig deeper into where these gains and losses occurred at the municipal and Census tract level will further help us understand how the region is changing.

Sewage Overflows Continue in Southeastern Michigan as Storm Severity Increases

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Summer storms have brought on many issues this year, including flooding and long periods without power. Another affect of the heavy rain though is increased sewage overflow into our local rivers and lakes, which also means increased risk of contaminated waters. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy tracks discharges by three different categories: combined sewer overflow (CSO), sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) and retention treatment basin overflow (RTB). Each of these are  discharges from a sewer system which contains untreated or partially-treated sewage. CSOs are discharges from older sewer systems designed to carry both domestic sewage and storm water, collectively referred to as combined sewage. Retention treatment basins often collect and treat this wastewater from CSOs to help avoid untreated overflows into the environment. However, they too can overflow, leading to an RTB overflow. SSOs are discharges of raw or inadequately treated sewage from municipal separate sanitary sewer systems, which are designed to carry sanitary sewage but not storm water.

Below is data on the type of overflows that have occurred in Southeastern Michigan in 2021 thus far. EGLE tracks this information and presents an annual report; the data for this post is the ongoing data for 2021 and has yet to be digested into a comprehensive report. Overall, the data shows that were have been 84 known and reported discharge events in Michigan in 2021. Of those 84, 37 have occurred in Southeastern Michigan. The charts below provide a deeper look at the type of discharge events, their locations and the responsible parties of the discharge events. 

The above data highlights a few different points, including that the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) had the highest number of discharge events in 2021 thus far; CSO discharge events are the most common; the Detroit River and the Rouge River are recipients of the highest number of discharge events; and August has had the most number of discharge events this far in 2021.

Now, to further break down the data. It should come as no surprise that the GLWA has had the most number of sewage discharge events because of its size. The GLWA is a regional water authority that provides drinking water and sewer service to more than 80 communities in Southeastern Michigan. The GLWA, by way of its formation in 2015, also inherited old infrastructure, which clearly needs updating to help prevent future overflows. For example, the Conner Creek discharge event that occurred during the first major rain storm of the summer, in early July, was a result of a lack redundancies for power. This event was one of the RTB overflow events, as the Conner Creek Pump Station is a CSO basin station, meaning the facility is meant to handle sewage overflow so it doesn’t go into the waterways. However, it does happen, and so far in 2021 there have been 9 such events.

As noted, CSO events occur when the system becomes  overwhelmed by the combined sewage and untreated wastes are directly released into receiving waters, with the Detroit River and the Rouge River being the most common water in Southeastern Michigan. These CSO events are considered intentional because the system was designed to allow overflow into waterways  once capacity of the wastewater treatment plant to store more liquid or process its maximum volume is reached. There are several discharge points in Southeastern Michigan, with the GLWA operating most of them. In total, the GLWA has 9 CSO discharge locations along the Detroit and Rouge Rivers and 62 additional untreated discharge points. Of those 62 untreated discharge points, six  discharge only in the event of an emergency that jeopardizes property (i.e. wide-spread basement flooding). The remainder of the points discharge at varying frequencies. These 62 sites are responsible for about 5 percent of total combined sewer overflow discharge volume. In 2021 there have been 20 CSO events in Southeastern Michigan, 19 of which the GLWA was responsible for and all of which discharged in the Detroit or Rouge rivers.

CSO events are tied to heavy rainfall, which explains why August had the highest number of overflow events. It is predicted that these events will only increase as our climate changes.  This of course is concerning because the overflows are forms of pollutants and release hazardous materials into the environment, causing health, safety and environmental issues.

Ways to help mitigate CSOs include sewer separation, expanding CSO treatment facilities and adding retention basins and investing in green infrastructure (bioswales, rain gardens). Actions are being taken nationally and locally to help better prevent CSOs, but a total overhaul of our water and sewer infrastructure would cost billions upon billions of dollars. So far, the GLWA has invested $1.2 billion in CSO facility upgrades, and while the amount of CSOs has been reduced by 95 percent, they still occur and have long-term affects on the region.

Detroit’s Population Falls in 2020 Census, Oakland and Macomb Counties Continue to Grow

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The numbers are in, and according to 2020 Decennial Census data Michigan’s overall population grew to 10,077,331, but Detroit suffered a population loss for yet another decade. According to the recently released data, Detroit’s 2020 population was recorded at 639,111, a decrease from  the 713,777 2010 Census population. The City of Detroit’s population was at one point larger than every other county’s population in the State of Michigan (1.8 million people in 1950), except for Wayne County (it is located in Wayne County. However, as the first chart below shows, that began to change in 1990 when Oakland County’s population exceeded Detroit’s. Then, in 2010, Macomb County’s population also exceeded Detroit’s population. According to the most recent Census data, Oakland County’s population was  1,274,396 and Macomb County’s population was 881,217 in 2020. Wayne County, including the City of Detroit, still has the largest population in Michigan at 1,793,561. However, Wayne County also continues to lose population, in part because of Detroit’s population loss.

Between 2010 and 2020, the City of Detroit and St. Clair and Wayne counties were the only large units of government to lose members of their population. The City of Detroit had the largest percent loss at 10.5 percent, or 74,666 people. Wayne County experienced a 1.5 percent loss (27,023) and St. Clair County experienced a 1.6 percent loss (2,657). Tax foreclosures have been cited as a reason for the Detroit’s continued population loss.  Note, however, that Detroit lost fewer people in the last decade than the previous decade–74,666 from 2010 to 2020, compared to the 201,530 population loss between 2000 and 2010.  Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he plans to appeal the recently released Census numbers for the City, as he firmly believes they are inaccurate. Part of his reasoning? The 2020 Census accounted for 254,000 occupied households but according to DTE there are about 280,000 residential households paying electric bills. In comparing these two data points, there is a discrepancy of 25,000 occupied houses with running electricity—housing units he thinks the Census missed. 

Wayne County officials on the other hand recognize that population loss continued, but chose to see progress since the total loss between 2010 and 2020 was about 27,000 people whereas, between 2000 and 2010, the population loss was about 240,000 residents, so there has been a substantial decline in the loss. According to a recent Free Press article, part of population loss Wayne County experienced was due to the loss Detroit experienced, but that was offset by population gains in other municipalities in Wayne County. Furthermore, a large portion of the State’s population remains concentrated in Wayne County (about 1/5 of the population). 

The population loss experienced by Detroit and Wayne and St. Clair counties was likely the gain for other area counties. According to the data, Washtenaw County experienced an 8 percent population increase between 2010 and 2020 (27,467), Livingston County experienced a 7.1 percent increase (12,899), Oakland County experienced a 6 percent population increase (72,034) and Macomb County experienced a 4.8 percent increase (38,865).

In a future post we will also be looking at the population gains and losses at the municipal level in Southeastern Michigan. A few notable regional gains and losses to mention now though are:

Population Gains Above 20 Percent

•Hamtramck, where the population increased 27 percent between 2010 and 2020 (from 22,423 to 28,433)

•Salem Township, where the population increased 25 percent ( from 5,627 to 7,018);

•Oceala Township, where the population increased 23 percent (from 11,936 to 14,623);

•Lima Township, where the population increased 22 percent (from 3,307 to 4,024)

•Dundee Township, where the population increased 21 percent (from 6,759 to 8,145);

•Saline Township, where the population increased 20 percent (from 1,896 to 2,277);

•Novi Township, where the population increased 20 percent (from 55,224 to 66,243);

Population Losses Above 10 Percent

•Scio Township, where the population decreased by 13 percent between 2010 and 2020 (from 20,0081 to 17,552); •Detroit, where the population decreased by 10.5 percent (from 713,777 to 639,111).

With population changes comes changes in demographics as well. For example, in Detroit, the Hispanic white population grew to make up 9.5 percent of the City’s demographic and the Hispanic or Latino population to grew to makeup 8 percent of the population.

To fully grasp the regional and statewide population gains and losses we needed to understand just who left one area and moved to another. Migration to the suburbs, particularly to Macomb and Oakland counties by the City’s white population, is what initially triggered Detroit’s population loss in the 1950s. This population loss has continued through 2020. Demographic changes have continued through today and with the release of new Census data, Drawing Detroit will show just how Southeastern Michigan, and Michigan overall, has changed in the last decade and beyond.

Southeastern Michigan COVID Update: August 2021

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The era of COVID continues, especially as we again are witnessing a case surge due to the Delta-variant. In Michigan, the level of transmission is now considered substantial, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC states there are now 71 counties that are places of “substantial” or “high” transmission: Livingston, Monroe, Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne are included in this list. A county is considered to have a substantial transmission rate if there are 50-99 cases per week per 100,000 people and/or a test positivity between 8  and 9.9 percent; all counties in Southeastern Michigan are considered substantial by the CDC, except St. Clair County. A county is considered to have a high transmission rate if there are 100 new cases per week per 100,000 residents, and/or there is a positive test rate of 10 percent or higher. Those Michigan counties that have a high transmission rate are Alpena, Branch, Charlevoix, Huron, Iosco, Kalkaska and Montmorency counties, according to the CDC.

Michigan reported 910,500 total confirmed COVID cases as of Aug. 6, 2021. Of that total 3,962 are confirmed new COVID cases from August 3,4 and 5, 2021 (the State no longer reports case numbers daily).

In Chart 1 we drill down into the number of confirmed COVID cases for Southeastern Michigan, by county and for the City of Detroit; all numbers are represented of a five-day rolling average. The five-day rolling average for the total number of COVID cases (Chart 1) reflects a smoother curve and adjusts for fluctuations in testing and/or the quality of reporting or failure to report. This chart also shows that, while the total number of COVID cases has grown overall since March 2020, there have certainly been surges. We also see that Oakland and Wayne counties continue to have the highest total number of COVID cases. Oakland County had the highest number of confirmed COVID cases at 104,354, followed by Wayne County with 104,090 new cases as of August 4, 2021. The City of Detroit had 52,394 confirmed cases.

Charts 2 and 3 provide a closer look at the number of new COVID cases over time. In Chart 2 we are reminded of the COVID case surges in fall/winter of 2020 and again in spring of 2021. However, as Chart 3 shows with a zoomed in look at the last month. New COVID case numbers are again on the rise. Oakland County had the highest number of new confirmed COVID cases on August 4, 2021 with 100, followed by Wayne County with 82 new cases and Macomb County with 56 new confirmed cases.

The daily data highlighted in these posts is from Michigan.gov/coronavirus, where data is updated daily at 3 p.m. Historical data were supplied from covidtracking.com, which republishes COVID data from the State. Additionally, the case totals do not reflect the number of people who have recovered, just those who have been infected. In June of 2020 the State changed how it reports its data on the website, making data more accurate in the long-term but more complicated to track as well. The State regularly updates older data, and as we continue to publish regular updates on COVID the State’s changes to past data many not always be reflected in our posts. The data published in this post is accurate for the day we it was received and published though.

The chart below (Chart 4) shows that Macomb County had the highest number of COVID confirmed cases per capita. According to the data released on August 6, 2021 by the State of Michigan, Macomb County had 111,540 COVID cases per million people. St. Clair County had the second highest number of confirmed cases per million people at 95,339. Washtenaw County had the lowest per capita rate at 71,278 confirmed COVID cases per million people.

While the current surge of COVID cases may not numerically appear to be as troubling as what we experienced in the spring and fall, the Delta variant is highly transmissible and a cause for both caution and concern, especially for the unvaccinated. As of last week the variant was confirmed in 40 different Michigan counties.

Gap Between Wages and Housing Affordability Grows in Southeastern Michigan

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The eviction moratorium in place by the Centers for Disease Control ended July 30, and while programs funded through COVID Emergency Rental Assistance program are in place there is a deeper issue to be examined: affordable housing and a national living wage. According to data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition even if there weren’t a pandemic, the ability to obtain affordable housing and the ability to earn an hourly rate to afford housing continues to grow farther apart. In Michigan, according to the report, the average worker needs to earn $18.55 to afford a two-bedroom rental home at fair market value.

The average rule of thumb is that those who rent should spend about 30 percent of their income on their rental unit. In 2019, according to the American Community Survey, the average resident living in Wayne and Monroe counties was already living above that. According to the Census Bureau, the average percentage of gross income spent on rent in Wayne County was 32 percent and in Monroe County it was 30.7 percent. Macomb, St. Clair and Washtenaw counties were all at the 30 percent threshold (29.3%, 29.7% and 29.8%, respectively). Oakland County had the lowest percentage of gross median income spent on rent at 26.8 percent.

Further expanding on the gap between wages and access to housing, the National Low Income Housing Coalition released additional data drilling deeper into the hourly rate an individual would need to make in each county to afford a two-bedroom rental home (at fair market value) and what the current estimated hourly wage rate is for rent.

Washtenaw County has the highest housing wage rate in Southeastern Michigan at $24.31; this is the hourly amount an individual would need to make to afford a two-bedroom rental there. However, the current estimated hourly renter wage in Washtenaw County is $16.92; that is a $7.39 wage gap between current wage conditions and what is needed for local affordable housing security.

Livingston County has the largest gap between the average estimated renter wage and the hourly wage needed to secure a two-bedroom home at fair market value; that gap is $8.51. The current hourly renter wage in Livingston County is $12.26 and the amount needed to secure a two-bedroom home is $20.77.

Monroe County has lowest hourly wage needed to secure a two-bedroom home at $17.29 and the current estimated average hourly renter wage is $12.18, meaning there is a $5.11 gap.

The smallest gap between the hourly wage needed to secure a two-bedroom home and the current estimated average hourly renter wage is in Oakland County; that gap is $1.39. In Oakland County the average estimated current hourly renter wage is $18.78 and the hourly wage needed for a two-bedroom rental home is $20.17.

As the data shows, each county in Southeastern Michigan (and throughout the state), has a gap between the wages individuals earn and what it costs to obtain a home on the rental market. This gap means that many need to work more than 40 hours a week, sometimes closer to two full-time jobs.

In order to bridge this gap many changes need to occur; the two glaring ones would be additional affordable housing options added to the market and an increase in the minimum wage. The minimum wage in Michigan is $9.45, and it was not increased to $9.87 in 2021 because the average unemployment rate for 2020 was more than 8.5 percent. However, there have been pushes both nationally and state-wide to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour—but that has yet to widely come to fruition. In 2019 though Oakland County did adopt a $15 an hour minimum wage for County employees and Oak Park recently did the same for City employees. As businesses continue to try to attract and retain employees we are also seeing increases in the wages they are offering. However, while individual business and local governments implement living wages policies nothing is guaranteed without broader policies.

Signs Point Toward Economic Recovery in Southeastern Michigan

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In June of 2021 the unemployment rate for the State of Michigan remained stable, and lower than a year ago, while the rate for the City of Detroit continued to decline through May of 2021. The State of Michigan reported an unemployment rate of 5 in June, which is the same as its May and April rates. Since April of 2020 the State’s unemployment rate has declined from 23.6 to 5.  For the City of Detroit, the unemployment rate for May of 2021 was 8.4, which is 1.8 points lower than the April unemployment rate and 31 points lower than the March 2020 rate, which is the highest rate in at least the last two years.

The chart above shows how unemployment rates have greatly declined over the last year and are remaining both stable and low. The chart below reflects a similar message, but highlights just how high unemployment rates were throughout Southeastern Michigan during the pandemic. In May of 2020, Wayne County had the highest unemployment rate at 27.4 percent. Three counties in the region had unemployment rates above 25 percent; Macomb and St. Clair counties had unemployment rates of 26.6 percent and 26.8 percent, respectively.

Between May of 2020 and May of 2021 St. Clair County had the largest difference in unemployment rates at 22.5 percent; in May of 2020 St. Clair County’s unemployment rate was 26.8 percent and in May of 2021 it was 4.3 percent. Washtenaw County had the smallest difference in unemployment rates in that time frame at 9 percent; Washtenaw County had a 13.7 percent unemployment rate in May of 2020 and a 4.7 unemployment rate in May of 2021.

In May of 2021 Livingston County had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.4 percent while Monroe County had the highest at 6.7 percent.

The number of state unemployment claims directly reflect the unemployment rates regionally and statewide. These claims, also referred to as insured unemployment, are the number of people who have already filed an initial claim and who have experienced a week of unemployment and then filed a continued claim to claim benefits for that week of unemployment. Continued claims data are based on the week of unemployment, not the week when the initial claim was filed, according to the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments.

The chart below shows a spike in April and May of 2020, when COVID restrictions tightened throughout the State. Since then though there has been a steady decline in the number of continued claims. The largest declines occurred between May and June of 2020 and September and November of 2020. Although the recent overall trend has been a decline in claims, there was a slight increase in the middle of April and into early May of 2021, but even then, those numbers are among the lowest reported since January of 2020.  However, as July 3, 2021 there were 76,786 continued unemployment claims, the lowest number reported since January of 2020.

Although unemployment numbers have been on the decline, there has been a recent increase in the number of small business closures, according to the Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker. This source uses credit card transaction data from 500,000 small businesses, Opportunity Insights estimates closures from the number of small businesses not having at least one transaction in the previous three days. The data cover many industries, including healthcare services, leisure and hospitality, and retail and transportation. The data source does say it has less coverage in manufacturing, construction, and finance.

According to the data, 41 percent of small businesses closed as of July 18, 2021. This number was an increase from the 32 percent of small business that were estimated to be closed on June 18, 2021. 

The data shows that although small business closures at not as prevalent as at the beginning of the pandemic they are still closer to the high mark, rather than the low mark. There were significant drops in small business closures, such as in June and July of last year and those decreases could be related to the release of government aide at that time and a loosening of COVID restrictions.

Below shows the consumption expenditures of goods in the U.S. between 2019 and 2021. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, durable goods have an average useful life of at least 3 years (e.g. motor vehicles) while nondurable goods have an average useful life of less than 3 years (e.g. food) and services are commodities that cannot be stored or inventoried and are consumed at the time of purchase (e.g., dining out). The chart below shows how consumption of services continues to remain steady, but not back to pre-COVID levels. On May 1, 2021 it was estimated that there was $8,263 billion in consumption of services, a continued increase in consumption dollars but not yet at pre-pandemic levels.

The expenditures on durable and non-durable goods are however now above pre-COVID levels with the amount spent on durable goods being $3,338 billion as of May 1, 2021 and the amount spent on non-durable goods being $2,294 billion.

According to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the average price of single-family dwellings sold in Metro Detroit was $147,900 in April of 2021; this was $1,450 higher than the average family dwelling price in March. The April 2021 price was an increase of $14,050 from April of 2020 and $53,030 from April of 2014. Certainly, home prices have continued to increase year-after-year but the recent average price of single-family dwellings sold in the Metro-Detroit area has increased at a higher rate than in previous years. This is highlighted by the fact that the $14,050 increase in sale prices since 2020 is 25 percent of the overall increase in home prices since 2014 ($53,030).  

Attention on Mental Health in Michigan Growing, But More Focus Needed

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The attention on mental health continues to grow, but data for Michigan shows that the State is lacking in several aspects. First off, Michigan only has five inpatient, state operated psychiatric hospitals. Furthermore, access to mental health care is lacking for many in the state. While each Michigan county has a Community Mental Health authority, board or facility the number of individuals who could benefit from their help outnumber the amount of time and programs offered through these organizations. Of course there are also private mental health care providers to assist with mental health disorders, but as research shows that availability is also lacking.

According to Kaiser Family Foundation, there are 235 Mental Health Care Professional Shortage Areas in Michigan, ranking it third in the nation with the highest number of such shortage areas. To move out of such a shortage area rank and designation the state needs a 23.5 percent increase in psychiatric help. The percent of need met is computed by dividing the number of psychiatrists available to serve the population of the area, group, or facility by the number of psychiatrists that would be necessary to eliminate the Mental Health Care Professional Shortage Area (based on a ratio of 30,000 to 1). More plainly speaking, 207 practitioners are needed to remove that designation; this is the number of additional psychiatrists needed to achieve a population-to-psychiatrist ratio of 30,000 to 1.

Such a shortage can lead to individuals utilizing their primary care physicians as their mental health doctor, or not seeing one at all. According to the “Understanding the expanding role of primary care physicians (PCPs) to primary psychiatric care physicians (PPCPs)” study, a third of primary care physicians’ patients are mental health patients. Furthermore, according to research from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, the number of primary care physicians accessible to residents varies greatly by county in Michigan. Regionally, Washtenaw County had the highest rate of primary care physicians accessible to residents at 167 per 100,000 in 2015; Oakland County was the only other county in Southeastern Michigan with a rate above 100 at 150. Livingston County had the lowest rate of accessible primary care physicians at 46 per 100,000 residents. 

While there is clearly a shortage in the number of psychiatrists needed to assist those with mental disorders there are other barriers as well. For example, access to health care also plays a role in the help an individual can receive. According to 2019 Census data, 6.4 percent of Wayne County  residents had no health care coverage; the highest in the region. Monroe County had the lowest percentage of residents in the region without access to healthcare coverage at 4.1 percent. 

Access to mental health programs and trained professionals can be life or death for some. This is why we not only need additional funding for mental health care in Michigan, and the country, but also a revamped look at mental health in general. Those with untreated, and even treated, mental health disorders can end up in the criminal justice system, living on the streets or in homeless shelters, suffering from substance use disorders or experiencing other day-to-day life difficulties due to lack of consistent access to care. An overhaul in the system is needed, and to further prove this point we will dig further into some of the worst case scenarios lack of access to mental health care can lead to.

Great Lakes Levels Decline in 2021

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A State of Emergency was declared for Wayne County due to flooding from Friday’s storm, I94 is still cannot be traversed in some places, and hundreds of residents in Southeastern Michigan will be dealing with flood damage to their homes for weeks–even months–to come. But, despite the onslaught of heavy rain, the Great Lakes levels remain lower than last year. 

How can this be? 


For perspective, one inch of water on Lakes Michigan and Huron is composed of 800 billion gallons of water. The 22 inches of water that has left Lake Michigan and Lake Huron over the last year represents 17.6 trillion gallons of water. It is total precipitation–rain and snowfall–that impacts water levels. Less precipitation and warmer days lead to lower lake levels. To put it in a different way, heavy snowfalls with low temperatures lead to greater ice coverage, causing less amounts of water to evaporate in the Great Lakes basin, and therefore leading to higher water levels. Evaporation levels are the highest when the temperature difference between the water and the air is high, and when the water is warmer than the air.

A State of Emergency was declared for Wayne County due to flooding from Friday’s storm, I94 is still cannot be traversed in some places, and hundreds of residents in Southeastern Michigan will be dealing with flood damage to their homes for weeks–even months–to come. But, despite the onslaught of heavy rain, the Great Lakes levels remain lower than last year. 

How can this be? 
For perspective, one inch of water on Lakes Michigan and Huron is composed of 800 billion gallons of water. The 22 inches of water that has left Lake Michigan and Lake Huron over the last year represents 17.6 trillion gallons of water. It is total precipitation–rain and snowfall–that impacts water levels. Less precipitation and warmer days lead to lower lake levels. To put it in a different way, heavy snowfalls with low temperatures lead to greater ice coverage, causing less amounts of water to evaporate in the Great Lakes basin, and therefore leading to higher water levels. Evaporation levels are the highest when the temperature difference between the water and the air is high, and when the water is warmer than the air.

According to the US Army Corps of Engineers, average lake levels for the Great Lakes Basin  for 2021 are much lower than what they averaged in 2020 during the month of June. Forecasted June 25, 2021 data from the US Army Corps of Engineers shows that the Lakes Michigan-Huron system is 22 inches below where it was on June 25 of 2020; the water level in Lake Ontario is 21 inches lower than where it was this time last year. Lake Superior, the largest and deepest lake in the Great Lakes, has water levels 7 inches below where it was in June of 2020. 

Less snowfall and warmer days meant the Great Lakes did not rise as high as they typically do in the spring. However, even though lake levels are lower than what they have been in recent years, they remain much higher than the long-term averages, with the exception of Lake Ontario. Lakes Michigan-Huron, Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair are all 13 or more inches higher than long-term averages. Lakes-Michigan-Huron are 13 inches higher than the long-term average while Lake St. Clair is 16 inches higher and Lake Erie is 14 inches higher. Lake Superior is 4 inches higher than the long-term June average, and Lake Ontario is 14 inches lower than the long-term June average. Of course, looking at how much higher current levels are than the lowest record monthly mean paints another picture.  Lakes Michigan-Huron, Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair are all 45-50 inches higher than the lowest record average in June. 

The shifts in weather patterns locally and beyond certainly mean changes for the long-term for what we may come to expect. Despite Great Lakes levels being low this year, on average, they remain higher than long-term averages. But, if we continue to have milder winters and hotter summers, then that will have the opposite effect on our Great Lakes–a loss of one of our greatest natural resources.  

A Look At Our Fathers

by Drawing Detroit | Leave a comment

We may have just celebrated Father’s Day, but year-round dads work and take care of their children. For many, this is reflective in a more traditional, nuclear setting but there are thousands of instances where the dad is the sole caretaker–in more ways than one. 

According to the 2019 American Community Survey, information on the percentage of children living with only their father is categorized by those 6 years of age and under and then those between the ages of 7-17. Throughout Southeastern Michigan less than 5 percent of children 6 years of age or younger in each county live solely with their father. According to the data, in 2019 Macomb County had the highest percentage of children 6 years of age or younger only living with their father at 3.4 percent, followed by Monroe County where 3.2 percent of children 6 years of age and younger lived with only their father. In St. Clair and Wayne counties 3 percent of children 6 years of age and younger lived with their father. For those between the ages of 7 and 17, Macomb County again had the highest percentage of children living with only their father at 6.8 percent. Wayne County had the second highest percentage of children living with only their father at 6.4 percent and Washtenaw County had the lowest percentage of children between the ages of 7-17 living with only their father at 3.3 percent.

In addition to tracking data on the percentage of children living with only their father, the Census also tracks how many children live in a home with both a mother and father, but where only the father works. For the 6 years of age and younger group, Monroe County had the highest percentage of married fathers being the sole income providers for the family at 9.5 percent, followed by Macomb County at 9.2 percent. Washtenaw County had the lowest percentage of married fathers with children 6 years of age or younger who were the sole income providers at 5.8 percent. For the 7-17 age range, Livingston County had the highest percentage of children of married fathers being the sole income providers for the family at 15.4 percent, followed by Macomb County at 13.7 percent. 

While this post shows data on fathers that is not traditionally seen, in researching data on fathers it was also discovered that data sets on them are not as extensive as on mothers. None-the-less, fathers deserve thanks year-round, whether they are serving as the sole income provider for a home, supporting their family with a partner or raising children on their own.