Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett Jr. said it will take at least three weeks before tenants of the Leland House can begin recovering personal property left behind since being evicted last December.
Mallett said the city attorneys will present their plan to a federal bankruptcy judge this week, with a mediation hearing set for March 18. The city’s latest offer would give tenants who sign a waiver of liability a full day to pack their belongings with the help of two friends. The city will hire professional movers to transport items to residents who have since found housing and will safeguard items in a storage facility for those who haven’t.
If tenants agree to the arrangement, Mallett said the city will order a generator and restore power to the building. The process will cost the city $850,000, but Mallett hopes the judge will allow Detroit to recover the cost from the building’s owners.
Council members are increasingly frustrated that Leland House residents have had to wait roughly four months to reenter the building and collect property they were forced to abandon during an emergency evacuation.
They also demanded assurances that the city will be more proactive in keeping rental properties up to code to prevent other residents from losing their homes due to landlord neglect. Council Member Latisha Johnson plans to establish a working group to ensure more rental properties are in compliance with the city.
“That is the biggest fear, that this will happen again,” said Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero. “Residents are correct to be mad at us; we’re supposed to support in maintaining properties. I’m ready to see this end, people get their things back and get their lives back in order. Many of them are in shambles and this is ultimately our responsibility to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Related:
- Leland House move out plan isn’t final
- Leland House tenants can reclaim belongings
- Tenants of shuttered Leland House in Detroit denied belongings
- Leland House residents face power shutoff, possible relocation
Mallett said the Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department will create a list of troubled properties with maintenance issues for inspection. City attorneys will serve building owners with a demand to fix health and safety issues, or go to court to create “an orderly process” to relocate tenants.
“At the end of the day, the city’s enforcement capability is limited,” Mallett said. “We can impose fines, close the building and cause people to move to another place. That is also stressful to tenants.”
Mallett said the city will give building owners an opportunity to make improvements to avoid moving out longtime residents.
Council Member Renata Miller said landlords have been “given grace to do our residents wrong” and neglect their properties.
“They don’t want to fix the things that are broken just to get (tenants) out so they can bring in market value residents,” Miller said. “The next thing you know it’ll be fixed up while we talk about affordable housing. It’s a joke.”