by
Luke Shaefer
Mayor Mary Sheffield, concerned about the poverty rate, on Monday announced the appointment of Luke Shaefer, a nationally recognized expert on poverty and social policy, as Detroit’s first Chief of Health, Human Services, and Poverty Solutions.
Shaefer, the founder of the University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions, will oversee the Detroit Health Department, the Office of Immigrant Affairs and Economic Inclusion, and a new Department of Human, Homeless, and Family Services directed by Benita R. Miller.
Benita R. Miller.
“Focusing on people and on poverty are the main goals of our administration and a promise we made to Detroiters throughout our campaign,” said Sheffield in a statement. “Detroit can’t reach its full potential if families are struggling just to meet their basic needs. This new structure allows us to confront poverty directly—by aligning health, human services and homelessness prevention around a single, coordinated strategy that puts residents first.”
Shaefer said in a statement:
The new department will bring together human services and homelessness response functions that were previously housed across multiple divisions, creating a more coordinated, resident-centered system.
The Mayor's charge to me is to bring national best-practices to the City’s approach to addressing household basic needs, lowering mental, physical and behavioral health barriers, and leading an administration-wide approach to addressing the root causes of poverty in Detroit.
Shaefer last served as the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Policy at the U-M’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and as founding director of Poverty Solutions, a U-M presidential initiative focused on preventing and alleviating poverty.
