Members of the Congressional Black Caucus criticized Baltimore's efforts to disconnect water service for unpaid bills in a letter Monday that was focused primarily on utility privatization in Nigeria.
City officials announced in March they were sending shut-off notices to about 25,000 customers who owed a collective $40 million in overdue bills. The move prompted some activists to call for a moratorium on shut-offs in the city.
The letter, signed by half of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, is a response to efforts to privatize water in Lagos, Nigeria. But in making a case for why they oppose that move, the lawmakers cited controversy over shut offs in Detroit and Baltimore.
The letter was signed by two Democratic lawmakers in Maryland: Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, who represents Baltimore, and Rep. Donna F. Edwards, a Prince George's County lawmaker who is running for Senate.
"In the U.S. city of Detroit, low-income residents continue to experience inhumane water shutoffs, a development that has drawn the concern of the United Nations," the letter reads. "The city of Baltimore has begun to follow Detroit's dangerous example, despite opposition from its residents."
"We are deeply concerned that low-income communities and people of color are disproportionately affected when water is managed with greater attention to profit margins than to human rights," the lawmakers wrote.
Baltimore's water system is not privatized, and city officials have stressed that there are no plans under way to do so. City officials also said that Baltimore's shut off policy has been in place for years, and that City Hall is not "following Detroit" on how it handles the cases.
Kevin Harris, a spokesman for Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, said that shutting off water is a better response to the issue than allowing unpaid bills to accumulate to the point where a homeowner loses a property in a tax sale.
The city has also implemented several policies to mitigate the impact, he added.
"The shutoff policy has been an effective tool in both making sure that people who need help know that there's help available and also in cutting down on the number of people who could lose their homes to tax sales," Harris said.
"We share the Congressional Black Caucus's concern about the impact of cutoffs on low-income communities and communities of color, which is why this mayor has increased assistance for vulnerable individuals in paying their bills, [overseen] decreases in tax sales, and put an ombudsman in place" to help homeowners.