The City of Detroit will help former Leland House tenants recover personal property they left behind after being evacuated from the derelict apartment building late last year.
A federal bankruptcy judge accepted a plan on Tuesday to temporarily restore power to the building, reclaim items and temporarily store them while Detroiters find new housing. Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett Jr. said the decision is a “huge step forward,” ensuring the sale of the building won’t take place unless tenants’ belongings are removed.
An electrical outage forced residents to leave on Dec. 10, 2025. Tenants said they left important belongings behind because they were assured the building would remain accessible, according to court records.
“It’s unfortunate that it took tenants coming down asking and begging for this, but this is why collective action matters,” said District 6 Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero.
City Council members and tenants pressed the Sheffield administration in recent meetings to get more proactive in the situation. The council is starting conversations about acquiring the building through legal mechanisms and converting into permanent affordable housing possibly owned by tenants through a cooperative housing model.
The emergency eviction of longtime residents in winter conditions is an extreme example of a widespread problem in Detroit. District 5 Council Member Renata Miller said roughly 15% of rental properties in Detroit are in compliance with city rental ordinances.
District 4 Council Member Latisha Johnson said the Detroit Health Department should work with code enforcement inspectors to ensure people aren’t living in unhealthy conditions. Johnson said a more collaborative effort is needed between departments because many tenants are living in unsafe housing.
“This is not a one-off, we’re seeing this happening time and time again,” Johnson said.
Housing & Revitalization Department Director Julie Schneider said estimates are being produced to determine the cost of turning the building’s power back on and assessing whether the elevator will work.
Twenty-one of 31 tenants provided an inventory of the items they left behind. Schneider said 14 found permanent housing and three others are planning to move into new housing.
Mallett said the city will be reimbursed by the building’s current owners. Attorneys for Leland House Limited Partnership Company could not be reached on Tuesday.
Hey Malachi, there is a typo in the third paragraph.
Thanks Anthony, should be fixed now.