Mayor Sheffield rolls out sweeping housing compliance plan to protect seniors and residents with disabilities

• Plan outlines enhanced inspections focused on safety, accessibility, and habitability
• Citations, fines and violation notices for non-compliance to property owners
• Protective measures due to failure of many property owners/managers to report outages and issues
• Plan key part to Mayor's Senior-focused Initiatives

Standing in the community room of the Village Center apartment tower in the New Center neighborhood today, Mayor Mary Sheffield unveiled a new housing compliance plan intended to improve housing quality and rid the City's senior buildings from major safety issues including non-working elevators.

Village Center is an example of a Senior building that is code complaint with a good maintenance record, the standard and expectation Mayor Sheffield says she wants to set for all buildings that house seniors and other vulnerable residents. Of the senior apartment complexes in the city, multiple buildings have experienced elevator outages, poor maintenance accountability, and as a result, multiple complaints from senior residents.

City ordinance requires property owners and managers to report outages and issues which many fail to do, leaving seniors in inaccessible and unsafe conditions without proper emergency protocols.

"Ensuring the dignity and quality of life of our seniors is an absolute priority of mine. Every Detroiter deserves to live in safe, high-quality and well-maintained housing and this is especially important when it involves our elderly residents or those living with disabilities," said Mayor Sheffield. "I have met with the leadership of our Building Safety department and working with them have developed a plan to get more of these essential residential buildings into full compliance."

The Mayor detailed her stepped up approach to ensuring that properties that are in compliance stay in compliance, and those not in compliance drastically improve quality of life standards and attain City compliance:

Enhanced Inspection Protocols:

• Addition of Two Property Maintenance inspectors assigned to monthly senior housing inspections.
• Five dedicated District Elevator Inspectors to inspect each senior building four times annually, doubling the current ordinance requirement.
• Collaboration between BSEED Construction and Property Maintenance Divisions on violations.

Ramp-up of Inspection and Enforcement Actions:

• Intensified inspection schedule for all senior buildings focused on safety, accessibility, and habitability.
• Citations and violation notices for non-compliance.
• Tiered enforcement, including fines up to $2,000 for violations.

Increased use of Consent Agreements & Legal Measures:

• BSEED and Law Department are targeting 3 Property owners/management companies with major building issues to enter consent agreements with corrective action plans.
• Potential for legal action and abatement strategies to enforce compliance.

Direct Engagement with Property Management Companies:

• New quarterly meetings between property management representatives and City of Detroit officials starting February 2026 to discuss compliance, maintenance, and best practices.
• Provision of education, resources and technical assistance to support proactive compliance measures.
• Proactive issue reporting from property owners (e.g., outages, flooding).

"The Mayor has given us a mandate to get 65 senior and disabled living apartment buildings fully up to code by August 2026," said Director of the Building Safety Engineering & Environmental Department (BSEED), David Bell. "Using these strategic approaches, I believe we will reach her goal. And we will continue with our strategy until every building is brought into compliance."

With increased oversight from the City, property owners and managers will receive education and resources to support proactive compliance while enhanced inspections will focus on safety, accessibility, and habitability. Non-compliance will result in citations, violation notices, and tiered enforcement, including fines up to $2,000 for violations.

There will be five District Elevator Inspectors to inspect each senior building four times annually, doubling the current ordinance requirement.

The Mayor also said that she plans to bring together city officials and property management companies regularly to discuss compliance needs and what issues or barriers property managers may have to achieving them.

The final outcomes expected from the updated senior housing enforcement plan will focus on improved responsiveness to senior residents' concerns via dedicated communication channels, strengthened collaboration with management companies to elevate maintenance standards, and enhanced accountability and housing conditions for vulnerable populations through robust enforcement.