Detroit shelter housing families forced to close over zoning issue: “It’s frustrating”

A Detroit transitional housing facility is being forced to close its doors after being faced with a zoning issue. 
Detroit Power Detroit Community Outreach, located at W. Chicago Road and Westbrook, recently housed Tateona Williams, a mother who police said was living in her van with her four children. 
During a news conference in early February, Mayor Mike Duggan, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison and other city officials said Williams’ 2-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son died of hyperthermia after the family’s van was parked in the Hollywood Casino parking lot. 
Williams was housed at Detroit Power Community Outreach in the days following her children’s death. However, this week, the center and the people living there learned they would have to vacate the property. 
“It’s unfair and now this. It’s frustrating,” said Alexus Phillips, who has lived at the center for several years. “They don’t understand this is a family, and I have nowhere else to go.”