DETROIT (WXYZ) — Former residents of the Leland House apartment building in downtown Detroit remain unable to retrieve their belongings more than two months after being forced to evacuate due to safety concerns.
Residents were ordered to leave the building in December following a major power outage that damaged the building's electrical equipment. The building has since been deemed too dangerous to enter, leaving dozens of former tenants without access to their personal items, medications and sentimental belongings.
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"I simply want my belongings returned to me," said Anthony Howard, who lived at Leland House for 15 years.
Howard and other residents have been staying in hotels since the December evacuation. He said important items remain in his apartment, including his TV and computer equipment.
"There's a fair amount of medications, insulin and other expensive medications," Howard said.
Former resident Wendy Gill said she left behind irreplaceable sentimental items.
"My pictures, my gemstones, they are very close to me. All my stuff I have to have for my family," Gill said.
The Detroit fire marshal said allowing residents back into the building would create a liability issue since the building lacks working fire protection systems. The owners of Leland House filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November, further complicating the situation.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in U.S. Bankruptcy Court gave the Leland House Tenant's Union, the city, building owners and DTE until Feb. 24 to develop a plan for retrieving former tenants' belongings.
Previous coverage: Power outage forces dozens from Detroit's Leland House after weeks of uncertainty
"We want what the tenants want. We want them able to get their property," said Conrad Mallett, corporation counsel for the city of Detroit.
Mallet said the city has presented one potential solution to residents.
"The fire marshal said he would allow professionals who could operate in that circumstance who has insurance to go through and remove their property," Mallett said.
Previous coverage: Judge orders DTE to keep power on at troubled Detroit apartment complex
"When I left the building the day that the power went out, I didn't know I wasn't coming back there," Howard said.
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