By Boop
So I want to start by thanking the Detroit Tenants Union for putting on this demonstration and for advocating on behalf of the residents of the Leland Building, as well as the residents themselves for showing an inordinate amount of grace and resilience under pressure that they never should have been subjected to in the first place. And I want to say this clearly: if you’re a citizen of Detroit, or of Michigan; if you’re just a regular person, you should —and you must—see yourself in their struggle and in their plight. Because if the roles were reversed, you, too, would have been met with no mercy from neither the city, nor DTE.
We are all here at the Leland building to protest the inhumane displacement of over 30+ households that have been made homeless overnight. This displacement was justified through alleged discrepancies over bills paid— discrepancies that should not even matter anymore, because the bankruptcy court already approved a last-minute arrangement after Leland House secured a $1.2 million short-term, high-interest loan.
So whatever money was allegedly owed to DTE should no longer be an issue. And yet people are still homeless. They still cannot access their belongings. They cannot access their medications. Until very recently, even their pets were trapped inside the building they called home. And this is the human cost of corporate greed and expansion.
DTE has allegedly had its sights on the land that the Leland building has been on. And when you look at a map regarding how large DTE’s headquarters are, Leland building is strategically on its path to be able to expand its campus even further.
So why would DTE want the land that the Leland building is on? Right? DTE routinely needs substation-adjacent office spaces as they’re projected to increase their substation capacity in 2026. Grid monitoring, SCADA-related facilities. SCADA is the system utilities use to monitor and control the power grid in real time, including substations and other critical infrastructure. And buildings like the Leland are often gutted internally and repurposed, if they’re even kept up or torn down altogether. This is also, in a sense, defensive geometry. The Leland building sits directly adjacent to DTE’s headquarters and DTE South. This is a massive campus that we’re right next to. It is a hinge point between Grand River Avenue, 1st Street, Cass Avenue, and Plaza Drive. And it’s a transition zone between its corporate core and public-facing civic space, as well as critical traffic ingress and egress arteries.
From a utility company perspective, the land that we’re currently on is prime strategic land, even if the building itself, to them, is underwhelming. Even if there are human beings who have called this building their home for 10, 15, or 20 years.
DTE is already engaged in a massive expansion campaign across Michigan, including aggressively pursuing data centers in township after township, city after city—often through agreements that are heavily redacted and shielded by NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements – Ed.).
Why are 30 households seen as expendable? Why are over 30 people made homeless in December? Is this the same mercy people should expect in Saline Township, Grand Rapids, Southfield, Lyon Township—where DTE wants to build data centers?
So what is the real reason that if the money is secure, why are people still out in the street? Why are people still living out of hotels when they have homes, when they have functioning power, within spitting distance of DTE’s headquarters? How has this not been fixed? It’s been almost a month. It’s near Christmas time. You’re telling me that people are going to be homeless in Christmas? Really? DTE can have this happen on its watch? DFD can enforce this? You can really just do this to people you’ve sworn to serve? What kind of mental gymnastics does one need to do in their own mind to be able to sleep soundly, knowing that they took part in this.
This is not a matter of capability. This is a matter of morality. It’s a matter of conscience.
Why is Detroit Fire Department and the Fire Commissioner’s office, and pretty much anyone with any kind of authority or power to speak on this subject, dodging calls, playing hot potato with the issues that they are pushing people away from? No one who has the answers wants to answer these questions. “Oh, you gotta talk to XYZ,” ”You gotta talk to this guy,” “You gotta talk to that guy.” This is clearly a game of attrition to them, wanting people to lose steam and lose interest before the questions that the people have get answered.
But it’s not going to lose steam.
It’s not going away.
We’re not going away.
So answer the question.
Why are people still homeless? Why can’t they even get their stuff? Are they going to find out that there is no hazard? What is the issue? The what purpose? What is the connection between the commissioner’s office and DTE? What kind of backroom deals happened that this is being enforced?
The real reason that people are displaced is simply due to the fact that the eviction and displacement was not only unethical, but DTE and the commissioner overplayed their hand, and now it’s out in the open, and to backtrack on it would be to admit failure, and would be to admit corruption. Whatever piecemeal concessions that they’ve made through hotel and travel vouchers that they’ve given residents are just that—breadcrumbs—instead of what they actually owe these citizens; their home, their piece of mind back, and restitution for the trauma that they’ve been put through. To backtrack on their decisions now would be to open themselves up to liability.
So, due to pride, incompetence, and immorality, regular people are still made homeless, because those in power that have carried out this decision cannot bear to look at themselves in the mirror by admitting culpability and error.
That’s the real reason people are still homeless. That’s the real reason they can’t even get their stuff. There is no active safety hazard. Is the active safety hazard the lack of power? Then fucking fix it. DTE’s across the street; are you telling me they can’t fix this?
Of course they can.
This was on purpose.
The only safety hazard I see here is the blatant lack of public accountability. And that’s not going to be fixed by keeping people homeless.
Thank you.
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