Genesee County Receives Grant to Help With Foreclosure Prevention

A $100,000 grant from the Rocket Community Fund to the Genesee County Treasurer’s Office will help support expanded property tax exemption assistance and foreclosure prevention for eligible homeowners in Genesee County.

The grant supports more proactive outreach efforts, efficient application processing, housing counseling, and other assistance to help residents access available relief and resources that help with maintaining housing stability.

“This grant helps us meet people where they are by recognizing the challenges that many of our residents face,” said Sam Muma, Genesee County Treasurer, in a news release. “When we bring assistance directly to the community, we can help more homeowners stay in their homes, stabilize families, and strengthen neighborhoods. We want to play an active role in community development across the county, and this is one major step in that direction.”

Muma also noted that the funding will help the Treasurer’s Office connect residents who face barriers navigating the process or who may not even know that foreclosure prevention resources exist.

Genesee County Treasurer Sam Muma said the funding will help the Treasurer’s Office connect more residents to vital support, especially those who may not know help is available or who face barriers navigating the process.

The Rocket Community Fund began focusing on property tax foreclosure prevention and reform in Detroit in 2013, when Rocket Companies Chairman and Founder Dan Gilbert was named co-chair of the Federal Detroit Blight Removal Taskforce. Through programs like Neighbor to Neighbor, an annual canvassing initiative that delivered property tax exemption information and other resources directly to residents, the fund has helped reduce property tax foreclosures in Wayne County from a peak of 28,323 in 2015 to 2,111 in 2024.

“For over a decade, Rocket Community Fund has been committed to preventing tax foreclosure and keeping at-risk families in their homes,” said Laura Grannemann, executive eirector at Rocket Community Fund, in a news release. “These investments are the first steps to expanding that focus statewide to ensure that all Michiganders have access to stable housing and the prosperity that comes with it.”