• Mayor Sheffield signs executive directive establishing home repair as major priority; appoints Heather Zygmontowicz to lead coordinated citywide effort
•  Mayor tasks Zygmontowicz with building a coordinated strategy to strengthen Detroit’s home repair ecosystem and leading fundraising efforts 
• As Senior Advisor on Home Repair, Zygmontowicz also will lead the annual home repair census effort and identify opportunities for policy changes at the local, state and federal levels that can further support home repair efforts 

Mayor Mary Sheffield today firmly established Detroit’s home repair crisis as a major priority in her administration, signing an Executive Directive formally directing a new top administration official to lead the creation of a comprehensive, long-term strategy to address the problem.  Mayor Sheffield attended today's regular meeting of the Critical Home Repair Task Force, where she delivered remarks and signed the Executive Directive.  

Due to its aging housing stock, Detroit faces a massive need for private home repairs to help keep homes safe and to prevent them from deteriorating to the point they are no longer habitable, potentially leading to displacement and abandonment, disrupting lives and the stability of neighborhoods.  

It is currently estimated that more than 37,000 Detroit households live in inadequate housing, and 43% of Detroiters report at least one major home repair need. In 2025, the first Home Repair Census was published, documenting $63.6 million in estimated home repair spending across all organizations and home repair programs. Still, the scale of unmet need remains far greater. 

“Detroiters deserve safe, stable homes, and they deserve a system that is easier to understand and better equipped to meet the scale of need,” said Mayor Mary Sheffield. “This issue cannot be solved with a fragmented approach – there needs to be a coordinated strategy across the many agencies, programs and funding sources in this space with strong central leadership. This executive directive is about being honest about the challenge, putting the City’s leadership fully behind a coordinated strategy that allows us to gain ground instead of losing it.”

Across Detroit, more than 30 organizations administer home repair programs supported by City, federal, state, philanthropic, utility, and nonprofit resources. Those programs have delivered critical repairs for thousands of residents. Applications, however, are rarely open at the same time, eligibility rules differ, funding is narrow or time-limited, and no single organization can serve the full scale of need.  

According to Mayor Sheffield’s Executive Directive, the Senior Advisor to the Mayor on Home Repair shall, in collaboration with the Chief Executive of Health, Human Services and Poverty Solutions, oversee sustainable, effective home repair cross-collaboration between disparate programs and initiatives for the benefit of Detroit residents, which includes the following associated collaborative functions:

• Advancing shared intake, data-sharing agreements, and coordinated referral pathways across the Detroit home repair ecosystem to improve system interoperability and streamline resident access to home repair services; 
• Stewarding the City’s coordinated home repair strategy by institutionalizing an annual Detroit Home Repair Census report for at least five consecutive years; 
• Developing a multi-year fundraising and investment strategy informed by the Census and other ecosystem-wide data; and 
• Identifying opportunities for policy change at the federal, state, and local levels to further strengthen and expand Detroit’s home repair system. 

Centralized strategy and leadership on Home Repair

To centrally lead her Home Repair strategy, the Mayor has named Heather Zygmontowicz, a 10-year veteran in the home repair ecosystem at the city, as her Senior Advisor on Home Repair.  Zygmontowicz has spent the past decade specializing in building system-driven approaches to housing rehab and home repair. She has launched and led major initiatives at the Detroit Land Bank Authority and the City of Detroit, including Rehabbed & Ready, Bridging Neighborhoods, and Renew Detroit.  

She advocated for the creation of and previously held the role of Chief of Home Repair and Neighborhood Services, which centralized all home repair efforts at the City of Detroit. That work is now led by Rico Razo, who will partner closely with Zygmontowicz as they advance the City’s home repair strategy. Most recently, Zygmontowicz created the Citywide Home Repair Task Force (CHRTF) initiative, ensuring the City of Detroit is working in partnership with the many practitioners, funders, and community partners to expand what is possible in Detroit home repair, in order to improve outcomes for homeowners. Key funders of the CHRTF include the Rocket Community Fund, BuildUS, Hudson-Webber Foundation and Richard C. and Barbara C. Van Dusen Family Fund.

“There is no one more qualified or better prepared to lead this work than Heather,” said Mayor Sheffield.  “I have tasked her with broadening the city’s approach to home repair so that we are not only maximizing what the City can do but aligning our efforts with partners across Detroit to make every investment go further. Most of all, it must meet the needs of our resident homeowners.”  

“The magnitude of Detroit’s home repair need requires an equally ambitious response,” said Heather Zygmontowicz, Senior Advisor to the Mayor on Home Repair. “We would not be here today without partners willing to keep showing up and sharing ideas, and funders who believed that collaboration was worth investing in. This directive recognizes that working together delivers more for Detroiters and gives us the momentum to take that work even further.”