Closing out the 2025 Detroit Policy Conference, Detroit City Council members took the stage to discuss the most critical issues facing the City of Detroit, policies they hope come to fruition this year, and more. Moderated by WJR NewsTalk 760 AM’s Lloyd Jackson, the conversation centered around an inside look at what’s to come for the Motor City.
Detroit’s Last Word: A Conversation With City Council Members
January 24, 2025
Panelists
View the full session recording below.
On Detroit’s Critical Issues
The conversation began with each council member highlighting what they thought Detroit’s critical issues were, to which the majority spoke on population growth and housing affordability for all.
“I think that many barriers still exist around poverty, around Detroit making more of a living wage, growing our population, and more importantly, how we retain Detroiters here in the city. One of the things for me that I’m really trying to work on…for people to not only want to work and play but actually live in the great city of Detroit.”
“For me, one of the main issues we’ve been working on now and continue to do so in overdrive is affordable, accessible, and attainable housing … We, at one point in time, had the highest homeowner rate in the entire country. Now, we are relegated to talking about renting.”
“I want to continue to really focus on wealth generation, attracting and supporting young families, moving people out of poverty into the middle class, retaining our existing middle class, and then making Detroit a space where middle–class families and wealthy families want to come back to the City of Detroit.”
“The biggest issue that we are facing is investment in our residents, investment in our business, and investment in our city. The question becomes how we do that on the side of the government.”
“The [COVID-19] pandemic showed us that housing is very important, and a lot of people are struggling with that.”
Diving Deeper
Throughout the conversation, each council member also discussed individual issues that they have been working on within their own districts and throughout the city.
Tate has been focused on funding for public safety, saying, “As long as I’m on the council, we can push to get that continued funding. Of course, we’ve got to work on state funding, as well as funding from the federal government.”
Benson gave suggestions on how to retain talent in Detroit, saying, “We need to be identifying jobs that will pay [families and young people] enough to be able to pay for quality, affordable housing and to be able to experience a quality of life that they can get here and nowhere else.”
Durhal emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships in sustaining a bustling downtown, noting, “We need to keep this going. We sit down and have those tough conversations … if you visit Chicago and look at the possibility of what our riverfront can become, we’ve got a long way to go.”
Similar to Durhal, Young said the key to driving Detroit’s economy is securing more public-private partnerships and focusing on a trained workforce, adding, “We want to keep those partnerships going…to make sure we have a trained workforce that has the skill sets that we need to work with our union and our labor.”
When asked about solar neighborhoods, Sheffield admitted that she was not a supporter of the solar initiative until she spoke with residents who stressed a desire for their overlooked communities to be invested in. “I think it’s a way to utilize more solar energy in communities that oftentimes have not been invested in and then to help us become more green in the City of Detroit,” she said.
Moving Forward
The conversation concluded with one bold idea or initiative that the council members hope come to fruition this year. Sheffield is an advocate for property tax reform with a specific focus on an entertainment tax. Tate is passionate about continuing to fund life–changing programs, while Benson aims to secure dedicated funding for the region’s museums and increase funding for youth substance use prevention. Durhal hopes to expand the Downtown Development Authority and find a way to create a main street in every neighborhood. Lastly, Young is working towards a more business-friendly climate to make it easier for small businesses to get started.