Tenants win against utility giant, absentee landlord

A major struggle against DTE Energy and absentee landlords has reached a conclusion in Highland Park, Mich., a municipality surrounded by the city of Detroit. DTE Energy shut off the electricity at an apartment building on Aug. 31, leaving more than 150 residents in the dark.

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs took action in support of the Highland Tower tenants by holding demonstrations and press conferences and supporting a lawsuit filed by the residents against DTE Energy and the landlords. This series of actions resulted in the restoration of electrical power as well as a settlement that provided monetary and material assistance for all the tenants to relocate to better living facilities.

A court order on Sept. 11 forced DTE Energy to turn the power back on at the apartment building. Two other hearings, on Sept. 15 and 18, created the conditions for DTE Energy and the landlords to cover the costs of moving the tenants to other apartments.

Tenants, community organize fightback

The residents of Highland Towers were empowered by the struggle waged against DTE Energy and the absentee landlords. On Sept. 3, tenants went to DTE Energy headquarters in downtown Detroit to demand that their power be restored.

When tenants and their supporters occupied the lobby of the building, DTE Energy security officials stated that executives would meet with them shortly. But after remaining there for over an hour, they were told the lobby was closed and no one was available to discuss the situation at their apartment building.

The following day, in the aftermath of an emergency demonstration in front of DTE Energy headquarters, executives met with Moratorium NOW! organizers and tenants from Highland Towers.

The executives told the tenants that under no circumstances would they restore the power. They promised to work with human service agencies to provide other assistance to the tenants. They said that service providers were on the way to their headquarters to meet with tenants. But no one showed up. A car from the United Way drove up outside but the representative never entered the building to speak with the tenants.

The Highland Towers apartments had suffered from years of neglect and mismanagement. Residents had paid their monthly rents, yet the funds collected were never used to make repairs or cover the cost of utility bills.

In a Sept. 25 article published on the Detroit Blog of Time.com, LaTanya Lloyd, a Highland Towers tenant and co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, narrated the developments surrounding the struggle at Highland Towers. Lloyd, who also attended the March for Jobs in Pittsburgh on Sept. 20, said in regard to the Sept. 4 meeting with DTE Energy, “When we went to talk with DTE, it was like DTE just didn’t ... I hate to say it, but it was like they just didn’t give a shit.”

Lloyd went on to say, “One of the executives told us that the landlord owed over $150,000 to DTE. He said, ‘No, we’re not turning the power back on. This is a business, and we’re in business to make money.’”

Lloyd then stated, “A few days after the power went out, Moratorium NOW! approached us. Moratorium NOW! works with people in the community to stop unfair evictions and foreclosures. And that’s basically what this was, an unfair eviction. Once they got involved, things changed real fast. We got hooked up with Legal Aid and Defenders’ attorneys, and we took DTE to court.”

Lloyd, the mother of two children whose spouse is a graphic designer, continued: “They still kept fighting us! They told the judge lies about giving us notice, things like that. We never saw any notice from them. Our notice was the power going out. We’re human beings, and we matter. And we just weren’t going to let them do that to us without a fight. And we didn’t. And you know ... We won!”

Broadening the struggle to meet growing crisis

As a result of the struggle in support of the residents at Highland Towers, other human services agencies also became involved. The United Community Housing Coalition, the Detroit Area Agency on Aging, Southwest Solutions, the Department of Human Services and others came to the building in order to assist the residents with relocation.

On Sept. 21, a delegation of tenants and organizers for the Moratorium NOW! Coalition attended the City Council meeting in Highland Park. Mayor Hubert Yopp in his report on the situation at Highland Towers never mentioned the struggle that took place against DTE Energy and the landlords and omitted the fact that it was the organizing effort that resulted in the power being restored.

Building residents blasted the city government for not fighting to protect the interests of its citizens. When Sandra Hines, an organizer for the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, rose to go to the podium and speak, residents of Highland Towers applauded. Hines stated that it was the struggle of the people that resulted in the victory against DTE Energy and the landlords.

On Sept. 23, DTE Energy hosted a community outreach program at the State Fairgrounds in Detroit purportedly designed to assist people who were having problems in paying their utility bills. Over 10,000 people showed up at the event, most of whom were not able to receive any attention due to the overwhelming turnout.

This outpouring of people clearly demonstrates that there is a state of economic emergency in existence in the state of Michigan. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition has been calling upon Gov. Jennifer Granholm for over two years to exercise her emergency powers by imposing a halt to foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs.

Michigan has an official unemployment rate of more than 15 percent. The city of Detroit’s official unemployment rate is nearly 29 percent. Yet the state government and local officials have consistently refused to take action in defense of the people.

The struggle at Highland Towers makes the case even clearer for the imposition of an immediate moratorium on evictions and utility shutoffs. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition plans to reach out to more apartment buildings where tenants are facing threats of eviction and utility shutoffs.