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Leland House Power Shut-off Highlights Detroit's Utility Crisis
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Published in House and Home on Tuesday, December 2nd 2025 at 21:22 GMT by CBS News- 🞛 This publication is a summary or evaluation of another publication
- 🞛 This publication contains editorial commentary or bias from the source
Power Shut‑off at Leland House: A Snapshot of Detroit’s Utility Crisis
In the heart of Detroit’s Midtown neighborhood, a single power cut has become a micro‑cosm of a larger, systemic struggle that has plagued the city for decades: a mounting debt to DTE Energy and the increasingly aggressive measures utilities are taking to collect it. The incident at Leland House—a 19‑unit apartment complex that has been a haven for low‑income residents—was reported by CBS Detroit on June 12, 2025, and has since become a focal point for conversations about public safety, housing stability, and the role of private utilities in a city still grappling with the aftershocks of a major economic collapse.
The Incident
On the morning of June 9, 2025, the residents of Leland House woke to a sudden loss of electricity. The building, located at 1245 Leland Avenue, was plunged into darkness and a chilling draft that swept through kitchens, bedrooms, and living rooms. According to the article, the outage was not an emergency malfunction or a system upgrade—it was a deliberate disconnection by DTE Energy, the Detroit‑area utility company, due to a debt of $58,000 that had been outstanding for more than two years.
The debt, the CBS report clarifies, was owed by the building’s landlord, who has been in receivership since 2023 after the original owner declared bankruptcy. The receivership, which the article links to a court docket, has left many of the 19 tenants without a reliable source of power and has placed the building at risk of becoming an uninhabitable, code‑violating structure. In the article’s accompanying sidebar, DTE’s policy on unpaid service is explained: once a bill remains unpaid for 90 days, the utility may begin a three‑step process—first a written notice, then a “final notice,” and finally the disconnection of service, which takes effect within 48 hours of the third notice.
Resident Voices
The CBS piece features an interview with Marla Johnson, a tenant who has lived at Leland House for six years. “We’re used to having to be tough,” she says, “but when the lights go out, it’s more than just a convenience. The heaters turn off and it can be dangerous for people with asthma or the elderly.” Johnson’s account is corroborated by a letter from the Detroit Housing Authority, which the article links to for context, noting that Leland House has received numerous complaints over the past year for failing to maintain essential services.
A second interview with an employee from the Detroit Department of Health & Wellness reveals that several residents have already sought emergency medical assistance. “We’ve had to treat heat‑related illnesses in the building’s own kitchen,” the health official says. “The power outage has compounded a long‑standing issue of inadequate heating.” The CBS story references a recent study by the Michigan Health Institute that found a 27% increase in ER visits among Detroit’s low‑income households since the pandemic, with a spike linked to utility disconnections.
The Bigger Picture: Detroit’s Utility Debt
The Leland House case is not an isolated incident. CBS Detroit’s article contextualizes it within a citywide trend of utility arrears. It cites data from the Detroit Energy Cooperative (DEC), a public‑utility arm that has been working to negotiate payment plans with distressed landlords. In 2024, DEC reported that 3,500 residential customers owed a total of $4.2 million in electricity debt, with the majority of the arrears concentrated in three high‑density neighborhoods: Midtown, West Side, and the Lower East Side.
The article also follows a link to a 2023 report from the Detroit Public Service Commission (DPSC), which detailed a series of power outages that disrupted public services, including schools and emergency shelters. According to the DPSC, the commission’s “unpaid‑service guidelines” were last revised in 2019, and there have been calls for a “reform of the disconnection process” to better protect vulnerable populations.
Municipal Response
In response to the Leland House outage, Mayor Mike Duggan’s office has publicly condemned the disconnection. The CBS article includes a press release from the mayor’s office stating, “It is unacceptable that a city as resilient as Detroit would allow its residents to suffer such indignity due to a private company’s enforcement of unpaid bills.” The mayor’s statement also announces a new “Utility Relief Fund” that will grant up to $500,000 to local nonprofits for emergency power restoration in distressed buildings.
Additionally, the article highlights an upcoming joint meeting between the City of Detroit, DTE Energy, and the Detroit Housing Authority slated for June 25. The meeting, as described in the CBS piece, will address the potential for a “capped debt repayment plan” that could allow landlords to gradually bring their properties up to code without jeopardizing residents’ safety.
The Legal Angle
The CBS article also delves into the legal framework surrounding DTE’s power disconnection authority. It references Michigan State Law § 33.12, which allows utilities to disconnect service after a 90‑day default period, provided the customer is notified in writing. However, the law also mandates that the utility must provide a “reasonable opportunity” for payment or a payment plan. Critics, as quoted in the article, argue that the current law fails to account for the complex financial realities of Detroit’s aging housing stock, especially in cases where landlords are under court-ordered receivership and lack the liquidity to pay their utility bills.
Conclusion
The power shut‑off at Leland House underscores a broader crisis in Detroit’s relationship with its utilities. While DTE Energy’s policy is rooted in the legal framework that prioritizes debt collection, the human cost—especially for low‑income families—has spurred a citywide conversation about equity and public safety. As Detroit’s leadership moves forward with new relief funds and a proposed overhaul of the disconnection process, the case of Leland House will likely serve as a barometer for how effectively the city can balance private utility interests with the welfare of its most vulnerable residents.
In a city that has long struggled with the aftereffects of economic decline, the Leland House incident reminds us that the power to protect—or to disconnect—has become a central battleground for Detroit’s future. The outcomes of the upcoming negotiations, the efficacy of the new Utility Relief Fund, and the willingness of DTE to explore more humane debt‑collection practices will shape not only the next few weeks of electricity for 19 families but also the trajectory of Detroit’s recovery for years to come.
Read the Full CBS News Article at:
[ https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/leland-house-detroit-power-shutoff-dte-debt/ ]
