Tenants living in dangerous homes face eviction

Latasha Tucker waits for her case to be heard in court. She faced eviction from her rental recently on Detroit’s northwest side, even though her landlord ignored her pleas for help to fix her basement sewage backups.

Latasha Tucker, left, and Richard Johnson, 53, the father of two of her children, both of Detroit, carry items out of the house. She gets help from family members to move out, Wednesday, March 1, 2017.

Richard Johnson Jr. walks through a sewage-covered basement floor of the home of Latasha Tucker, who was facing eviction from a house filled with significant health hazards, on Feb. 16, 2017.

An overflowing toilet is seen in Tucker's sewage-covered basement.

Kei'sean Tucker, 8, is ready to move out of the home of Latasha Tucker and its health hazards.

Richard Johnson Jr. holds his son Richard Johnson III outside the former home of Latasha Tucker.

From left, Richard Johnson, 53, father to two of Latasha Tucker's children, longtime friend Johnny West, 57, Walter Tucker Jr., 30, Latasha's youngest sibling, and her father, Walter Tucker Sr., 64, all of Detroit, help her move out of this rental house.

Latasha Tucker carries items out of the house. Tucker, 42, of Detroit, faced eviction from her rental recently on Detroit’s northwest side, even though her landlord ignored her pleas for help to fix her basement sewage backups. She gets help from family members to move out, Wednesday, March 1, 2017.

Richard Johnson, 53, left, father to two of Latasha's children, and longtime friend, Johnny West, 57, both of Detroit, carry another cabinet out of the house to the U-Haul truck.

Water pours out of a pipe that appears to be clogged and through the basement of the home being rented by Chanell Flemming, 28, in background, in Detroit on Oct. 18, 2016. Water flows from the pipe lightly when water is not being used in the home, and then heavier when water is in use. Flemming stopped paying rent after several issues she said were not being addressed by her landlord.

Detroit city building inspector Randy Schuman talks with James Parker on a re-inspection of an apartment building Parker has owned for 21 years on Kendall in Detroit on April 10, 2017.

Landlord Jeff Cusimano is supposed to appear at a hearing to evict a tenant, Christopher Everet, in the court of Judge Demetria Brue on Feb. 2, 2017. Cusimano is one of the landlords with the most evictions in Detroit.

DeChante Gray, 43, used an open stove and space heaters to heat his home after the furnace failed last fall. Gray lost the home on Harlow to foreclosure, but signed a “rent with option to purchase” with the new owner who he said refused to fix the furnace.

Without a working furnace, DeChante Gray moved his 4-year-old daughter, Autumn, to her grandmother’s as fall turned to winter last year. She’d get cold playing on her bedroom floor.

DeChante Gray stopped paying his $700-a-month rent and faced eviction twice while trying to get the company to fix the furnace. The landlord dropped the court cases before a judge had a chance to order the furnace fixed. Gray eventually replaced the furnace in January, dragging it out of the basement on his own.

KiSean Gray, 12, and Autumn Gray, 3, play with toys while on Christmas break at the home of their dad, DeChante Gray, in Detroit on Dec. 29, 2016. The home was being heated by the stove because the house was without a furnace temporarily. The wall at left was part of other repairs started by the landlord.

DeChante Gray talks to his attorney, Linda Jordan, before the eviction case is dismissed.

Landlord Fadi Sakkijha talks about his experiences at one of several houses that he rents in Detroit, this one on Wormer Street.

Landlord attorney Kevin Callahan negotiates with Janlisa Zollicoffer, center, who faced eviction, and her mother, Thelma Zollifcoffer, before a scheduled appearance last fall in Detroit’s 36th District Court. The courtroom hallway is a center of activity between renters and landlords before facing housing court judges.

“People want you to pay rent and to live in their house, but they don’t want to fix it,” said Miesha Reed, who stopped paying $500-a-month rent on a unit rife with mice.