Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield plans to reshuffle city departments focused on health and human services and has tapped Luke Shaefer, a well-known Michigan poverty and social policy scholar, to take the helm, and Benita Miller, an attorney and nonprofit executive with decades of experience in child welfare reform and maternal health, to lead a new city department focused on homeless and family services.
Known for leading Poverty Solutions, a University of Michigan initiative to tackle poverty through research, and for co-founding Rx Kids, a fast-growing cash aid program for moms and babies, Shaefer will be Detroit’s first chief executive of health, human services and poverty solutions, Sheffield announced at a Jan. 12 news conference. Shaefer will be in charge of the Detroit health department, the office of immigrant affairs and economic inclusion and a new department of human, homeless and family services, directed by Miller.
“We see the impacts of poverty in our city every single day, whether it’s in absenteeism in our school system, evictions and foreclosures, the lack of job readiness and the poor health outcomes that we face here in Detroit,” Sheffield said.
The role is meant to bring national best practices, research and accountability to fight poverty and improve outcomes, Sheffield said, in a city where more than a third of the population lives below the poverty level. Shaefer would lead her administration’s approach to reducing poverty, she said.
Data will drive the work, he said. Other cities will serve as inspiration, too.
“We’re going to double down on what we’re doing already that’s working and we will rigorously examine our programs and understand where people get stuck, where systems break down, and we’re going to do things to improve them. Some of these changes are going to be big. Others are going to be small, but meaningful,” Shaefer said.
Shaefer, a leading anti-poverty scholar, has researched policies such as the expanded child tax credit, and co-authored “$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America” and “The Injustice of Place.”
Poverty, he said, is not an individual failure but a systemic one, involving housing, education, the labor market and health that often fails low-income families. But, he said, those systems can be “redesigned” to help families and children live healthier lives. That’s why aligning under one strategy is important, he said.
The goal, the mayor said, is to ensure that help is not fragmented or hard to access. The new department of human, homeless and family services, for instance, would bring together services previously scattered across multiple departments and is intended to give residents in need more streamlined access to help.
“The department will have an enhanced focus on preventing homelessness and promoting family stability before crises occur,” Miller said. “Across Detroit, residents will be able to count on having access to high-quality services ranging from basic needs to housing stability to home ownership and home repair.”
Miller, a native Detroiter, has worked at organizations in New York and New Jersey focused on children, mothers and families, according to her LinkedIn, and was the founding executive director of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s New York City Children’s Cabinet. She led New York City’s foster care system under former mayor Mike Bloomberg. Miller also worked with the New Jersey government to reimagine the child welfare system, she said at the news conference. She said she plans to leverage her experience to advance Sheffield’s vision to tackle barriers to getting help.
“We will build a system that relies on a no-wrong-door approach to service delivery, where residents receive the information and the resources that help them thrive,” she said.
Detroiter Nyesha Hoye knows what it’s like to need resources to survive. In 2024, while pregnant with her youngest child, she worked two jobs to keep a roof over her family’s head. She gave birth 10 weeks early and her infant spent 139 days in the NICU. Hoye was by her side nearly every day. But the mom of three fell behind on rent and couldn’t catch up and eventually was evicted. By July 2025, her family was living out of her truck.
“I was trying to keep my babies warm at night, finding safe places to sleep and waking up every day pretending everything was okay so my children wouldn’t be afraid,” Hoye, 37, said.
At a bookbag fair over the summer, Hoye spoke to Sheffield about her struggles. Sheffield, she said, helped place Hoye in a permanent shelter and a new home, with six months rent paid.
“I can finally breathe long enough to build a future I have been fighting for,” Hoye said.
At the Monday news conference, Chief Financial Officer Tanya Stoudemire said the changes are not expected to have an impact on the city’s budget. The reorganization would shift functions and funding from the city’s housing and revitalization department.
Sheffield has used her first days in office to back efforts to address poverty. She announced last week that the Rx Kids program is coming to Detroit. Ticket proceeds from her recent inaugural ball were expected to go to the Homeless Action Network of Detroit (HAND).
“This is a moment for critical and careful review and steady partnership,” said Detroit City Council President James Tate. “The work ahead is serious and the residents deserve a process that is thoughtful, fair and focused on service.”
Detroit City Council will review the mayor’s executive organization plan and the proposed structural changes, he said.
Sheffield has already reappointed five executives from former mayor Mike Duggan’s administration, including: Stoudemire, Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms, Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett, Homeland Security and Emergency Management Director Hilton Kincaid and Human Resources Director Denise Starr.