Housing lawsuit is far from over for a handful of residents

We reported last week that while the longstanding Hamtramck housing lawsuit is about to wrap up, there are still some folks who have grievances.
The fact that this lawsuit isn’t totally and completely over with is scandalous to say the least. The fact that there are still some plaintiffs who feel left out is outrageous.
In fact you know it’s pretty bad if they had to come to The Review to get their story told.
While plaintiffs had to wait about 40 years before housing was built for them, others got a smaller deal that they feel was inadequate.
Yes, this lawsuit took 40 years before promised housing was delivered by the city. That’s because the city simply had no funding to tap into until a few years ago, when the federal government stepped in and pumped millions of dollars to build new housing.
However, some plaintiffs who weren’t forced out by the city but who saw their neighborhood destroyed and blighted didn’t get a new house to purchase with the help of generous subsidies.
Instead, they received renovations to their houses. The work, though, was shoddy and fell apart. These folks live in the Grand Haven-Dyar-Dequindre neighborhood – the area just west of the I-75 divide.
They complain their attorney won’t take their calls and wasn’t any help to begin with.
While plaintiffs waited for years to witness new housing, this attorney collected a lot of money representing them. In the last four years alone, according to city records, this attorney was paid over $900,000.
That is an obscene amount of money made on the backs of folks who were discriminated against.
For that amount money, he should at least pick up his phone.
This housing lawsuit has cast a shadow over Hamtramck for years, and it now appears to be near its final end. However, there are still people who feel left behind who deserve to be heard.