DETROIT – Just weeks after Detroit city crews spent hours cleaning up and boarding a nuisance vacant apartment complex on Greenfield near Six Mile, neighbors say problems at the property are continuing and in some cases escalating.
Residents in the area tell us their security cameras have captured ongoing loitering, suspected illegal activity, and even fires being set outside the vacant building.
A neighbor shared a video from Friday, April 17, that appears to show someone starting a fire outside the complex.
The incident drew renewed concern because it happened at the same property the city recently worked to secure after mounds of trash and debris were found around the front and back of the building.
City officials say people who were living inside the building illegally were forced to leave during the cleanup effort, the units were boarded up, and surveillance cameras were installed afterward.
“This was not an overnight situation. This was years of accumulation,” said Detroit City Councilmember Angela Whitfield Calloway, whose district includes the property.
Despite the cleanup and boarding, neighbors say break-ins have continued.
During a visit on Monday, there were visible signs that several units at the vacant building had been breached again.
Calloway and her team encountered several people inside or around the structure and repeatedly offered help, including shelter placement, transportation to medical appointments, and treatment resources.
“You don’t want any help? Because we can get you some help, treatment, and shelter, right now,” Calloway told one woman during the visit.
Each time, the offers were declined. At one point, Calloway said a man asked for something her team couldn’t provide.
“They want heroin,” Calloway said.
The Mayor’s Office says outreach teams have been sent to the location multiple times per week to connect people with housing and recovery services.
Detroit’s Corporation Counsel also says the city has filed two lawsuits against the property owner, whom some city leaders have described as unresponsive.
Calloway says more aggressive action may be needed.
“We need to take the building,” Calloway said. “Obviously, the landlords, they are absent. They are not here. They’re not engaged. They don’t care. Because if you care about this building that you say you own, it wouldn’t look like this.”
Attempts to reach the owner of the vacant apartment complex for comment about these ongoing issues and lawsuit have not been successful.
In a statement, Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallet, Jr. said:
“The City has sent crews out to the site three times to secure and re-secure and secure again the building and is going to be sending a crew out again to resecure the building once again.
Two court filings have been made demanding the owner do the work now being done by the City of Detroit.
The City of Detroit has also, on multiple occasions, reached out to persons illegally occupying space and offered housing assistance and substance abuse recovery programming.
Those offers of assistance, unfortunately, has been declined by these remaining individuals.
The building’s owner will be held accountable for all costs and will have to take action to remove illegal occupants from his building.
This is an ongoing process, and until a court orders compliance, which we hope will be soon, the problem will not be completely solved.”
Detroit Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallet, Jr.
Neighbors say they’re hopeful the repeated securing of the building and the pending court action will finally bring lasting relief to the area.