It has been a week and a half since a 54-inch water main from the 1930s ruptured in Detroit’s Southwest neighborhood, causing flooding that damaged hundreds of homes and displaced more than 650 people. The city was able to get the affected residents into hotels across metro Detroit, and churches started collecting supplies and donations. Many nonprofits and local businesses also began setting up mutual aid funds; collection points for bottled water, hygiene products, and clothes; and donating cooked meals.
However, despite what progress has been reported by Mayor Mike Duggan, the reality of the matter is quite dire. Local business owner Diana Gomez saw firsthand how bad the situation truly was.
“The reason I was involved was because a chef from a food truck in Southwest put out a call for help dropping off food to the hotels in Southfield,” Gomez explains. She was there to provide burritos that she had made in her food truck and was shocked at how little the organizers had to work with. To be clear, these organizers are people impacted by the floods and are staying at hotels. They took it upon themselves to organize and create a supply room, as well as distribute the goods.
“One organizer was putting together a box for one family in the hotel and the family was only allowed four bottles of water,” Gomez says. “There were less than 100 bottles for 200 residents between the two hotels.”
Displaced residents are currently staying at two hotels in Southfield, another in Dearborn, and two other undisclosed locations. Details have not been shared in effort to protect the residents’ privacy, which has made coordinating efforts difficult, and organizers have very little information about these other locations.
“There are four or five hotels, but apparently the other locations have nothing on-site,” says Gomez. “I offered to bring water to one of the others, but the organizers weren’t sure where the hotels were, only that they were in desperate need of supplies. Everyone is seeing the aid come in, but it is not getting to the places it needs to be.”
Clean clothing is in high demand for these people trying to live their lives out of hotels.
“When I showed up, the lead organizer wasn’t there because she raised $300 to go buy underwear — people were begging for clean underwear,” says Gomez.
Water, food, and clothing are not the only thing in short supply. So are answers.
“The [Urban Neighborhood Initiatives] has been reaching out to the city’s water department and Detroit Police for answers to simple questions, like ‘Is my car going to get towed?’ that no one seems to be able to answer,” explains Gomez.
“The city was supposed to provide Ubers for the kids in these hotels to make it to school,” says Gomez. “But they have not been showing up and now kids cannot get to school. Some parents had reached out to the principal to figure out a bussing solution, but that was denied.”
The lack of transportation has prevented adults from being able to get to collection spots, like Patton Recreation Center, to get supplies as well.
To be sure, there are lots of efforts across the city to collect and distribute needed supplies. Some of the places that are still accepting donations include Patton Recreation Center, Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, 27th Letter Books, and Melway Burger Pop-up. Others are cooking hot meals, like Gomez’s Tacos Hernandez and Nepantla food trucks.
“People are stressed out and are spending their nights after work going back to their homes to clean up and make repairs,” says Gomez. “But because of this, they are missing the meals that hotels are providing them. People are still trying to get back to their lives and be parents and be employees.”
Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero, whose office has been working tirelessly to help displaced residents since hearing about the water main rupture, has been helping with coordination and organizing efforts on the backend.
“People are still trying to get back to their lives and be parents and be employees.”
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Likewise, organizations like Southwest Detroit Business Association, or SDBA, said on social media that Walmart has donated 40 pallets of supplies, from water to cleaning products to diapers. With an uncertain timeline of when residents will be able to return to their daily lives, Southwest residents are left hoping this is enough.
Indeed, volunteers and donations are needed, yet the responsibility constantly disproportionately falls upon citizens to offer the aid that’s needed. Organizations like SDBA and one city council member can only do so much.
There is an economic boycott planned later this week urging people to avoid buying anything from large companies like Amazon, Walmart, Target, fast food chains, gas stations, etc. The “economic blackout” is meant to protest President Donald Trump’s dismantling of federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, companies that have rolled back their DEI efforts, and corporate greed. In short, the call is for people to use their buying power in reverse, to remind these corporations who has the power in this relationship.
The problem here is that millions of people depend on the affordability and ease-of-access that these companies offer, and planning ahead is not always so simple.
The demand also falls upon the responsibility of the people. In this sense, the demand is one of sacrifice — even if for only a day — while no demand is made from the companies themselves. Although withholding one’s buying power can have an effect, the resultant purchases after the boycott can easily make up for the minor loss. Much like withholding one’s vote from a specific candidate, the act alone is not enough and missing a true demand.
The supplementary demand — whether from us or city officials — must be for the supplies that the displaced and dispossessed residents of Southwest are in dire need of right now. Likewise, the actual effort of providing donations, moving those supplies, ensuring these residents have water and food and transportation — especially for their children to get across town to school — needs to be on the city and state to provide. This is an emergency situation and people are in need.
