Billionaire Dan Gilbert Is Paying Detroit Homeowners’ Property Tax Debt

Rocket Companies founder Dan Gilbert announced a ten-year, $500 million investment today to aid community organizations and low-income residents in his home city of Detroit, Michigan. The mortgage lending billionaire will put in $350 million from his Gilbert Family Foundation, which he runs with his wife Jennifer, in addition to $150 million from Rocket’s philanthropic arm, the Rocket Community Fund.

The first investment will be a $15 million initiative to eliminate property tax debt held by 20,000 low-income homeowners saddled with high property tax bills. The money will go to establishing the Detroit Tax Relief Fund, a new organization run by local nonprofit Wayne Metro Community Action Agency, which will pay the remaining tax burden for homeowners eligible for the program in an effort to curb high foreclosure rates in Detroit. In 2013, Gilbert helped set up the Detroit Blight Removal Task Force, an organization tasked with clearing all of the estimated 169,000 vacant and blighted properties in the city.

“Everyone deserves to achieve the American dream of homeownership, and that includes the ability to sustainably and permanently enjoy the home you make for yourself, your family and your loved ones,” Gilbert said in a statement. “Removing this tax burden will build a stronger foundation for Detroit families to thrive.”

Gilbert founded Rocket—previously known as Quicken Loans—in 1985 at age 22, using $5,000 he earned selling pizzas in college. The firm became the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. in 2018 and went public in August 2020. Forbes estimates he is worth $47 billion, thanks to a 94% stake in Rocket plus ownership of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and a real estate empire in Detroit. Prior to today’s announcement, his philanthropy centered on efforts to cure neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves. In April 2019, the foundation donated more than $11 million in research grants to develop therapies to repair optic nerves damaged by the disease.

After the initial $15 million in property tax relief, Gilbert and Rocket plan to keep investing in local communities, with a focus on home repair and addressing the city’s digital divide. The PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic golf tournament, held in Detroit last summer, raised nearly $3 million for nonprofits including the Connect 313 fund, a partnership with the city government and United Way to increase access to the Internet, devices and digital literacy for people in Detroit.

“We are at this perfect place where a massive commitment would once and for all break the cycle of the unjust property tax debt that we have seen so frequently in the city of Detroit,” says Laura Grannemann, vice president of the Rocket Community Fund. “If someone doesn’t know whether they’re going to have a roof over their head tomorrow, they’re definitely not going to be able to take advantage of economic opportunities.”