News Of FEMA Grant To Buyout Homes In Flood-Prone Area Met With Mixed Emotions

DEARBORN HEIGHTS (WWJ) - Relief may be in the eye of the beholder as news of a government grant to buyout homeowners in a suburban Detroit area is met with mixed emotions.

Some residents in a Dearborn Heights neighborhood are uneasy following the announcement of a $2.8 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant that will allow for the purchase and demolition of their homes, which sit in the city's most flood-prone area.

"The FEMA grant that we asked for has been accepted," said Dearborn Heights Mayor Dan Paletko. "This will give them an opportunity to sell their homes and the homes later on would be demolished."

"I guess it was supposed to be good news," said Sandy a resident on Hanover Street in Dearborn Heights. "They got their grant, it's not helping me," she told WWJ's Jon Hewett.

News of the grant offering to buy her home and the homes of 14 of her neighbors in the flood zone along Ecorse Creek has left her in fear -- of whether the current market value will be enough.

"It will pay off our mortgage and give us nothing to move," she says crying. "I'll have nothing."

US Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, who shared in the announcement, admits the buyout may not be the perfect solution but says at least it's a start.

"We've got to keep working to try to fix the problem longer-term and today gives residents who have faced this chronic and constant flooding -- an option for them to consider," says Dingell.

"They're going to demolish everything on one side of the street," says Angelia Lee of Dearborn Heights, "and not even ask you what you think on the other side and it affects us just as much."