After months of limbo, former Leland House tenants can soon begin to collect their belongings.
Jason Harrison, an attorney for the Detroit Law Department, provided the update Tuesday in response to questions from council members and frustrated ex-tenants.
Harrison said a federal judge approved an order on April 3 authorizing an agreed-upon process for the removal of tenant belongings. Tenants, he said, will be allowed back into the building over 21 days between May 4 and May 24. The process of retrieving those small belongings will be conducted with the supervision of the Housing and Revitalization Department and the Detroit Police Department. Afterward, a packing company will return to collect the remaining items and send them to the addresses of those who have permanently relocated. For others who have not, a temporary storage location has been set up, he said.
There was also a process established for individuals to sign up online for time slots.
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City attorneys were also in court on April 9 as the court took up a motion from the building owner who is attempting to sell the building. No action was taken. Another hearing is set for April 16.
City Council President James Tate asked Harrison why there’s such a lag time between when the judge approved the agreement to allow residents access to their belongings.
“Why can’t it begin right now?” he said. “What is delaying the movement?”
Harrison told Tate that since the building does not currently have electricity or a working elevator, the vendors working on repairs said they’d need three to four weeks to restore those functions. Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett has said that it would cost the city about $850,000 to restore power and elevator access at the building for tenants and that he hoped the judge would allow the city to recover the cost from the building’s owners. The electricity and elevator there has been nonfunctional since December, when residents were forced to vacate and the owner subsequently filed for bankruptcy.
Council Member Angela Whitfield-Calloway said that if the city hasn’t, there should be notices posted on the building’s exterior for individuals who might not have access to a cellphone or laptop.
“A lot of people have fallen off the grid; they don’t know about a link (to sign up),” she said. “There’s enough space (on the building) to post it, so people when they are over there can see what the next steps are.”
