Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and other officials are conducting a widespread investigation after two kids reportedly froze to death in a casino parking lot, with the goal of creating actionable plans to address gaps in homelessness services across the city.
Police say the two children – ages 2 and 9 – were in a van with five others in the parking garage on Monday when the mother of the children reported one of the kids wasn't breathing.
Watch below: Monday report after 2 kids found frozen to death inside car in Detroit casino parking garage
That mom contacted a friend, who took the 9-year-old to Children's Hospital but returned to also get the 2-year-old who also wasn't breathing. Police say there were two adults and five kids in the car.
According to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, the family had reached out to the city's homeless response team on Nov. 25 saying they had been living with a family and they couldn't keep living there and needed a place to go.
During the conversation, Duggan said that there was no resolution reached and that an outreach worker was not sent out. In emergency situations, Duggan said outreach workers are sent out.
He said that the family never called back, and as far as they know, no one reached back out to the family to see if their situation was resolved.
Related Video: Detroit officials provide investigation update after 2 kids found dead in vehicle in casino parking lot
Detroit Police Interim Chief Todd Bettison said that he heard the family had been moving from casino to casino in their vehicle. He said he thinks the family had been living in the vehicle for two to three months.
"From what I've been told, the mother had a lot of pride. She loved her kids and she wanted to keep the family together," Bettison said.
"We have to make sure we do everything possible to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Duggan said. “I’m talking about the system as a whole. Are we doing everything to make sure people in this city know how to access this critical care.”
Duggan said that he has directed Deputy Mayor Melia Howard to work with the city's Housing and Revitalization Department (HRD) Director Julie Schneider and conduct a widespread investigation into how this happened and come up with plans to make sure it never happens again.
The city officials said that anyone who is homeless or is in imminent danger of homelessness, to call 866-313-2520 and if it's after 6 p.m., they can visit a Detroit police precinct to get put into contact with a homeless services agent. Duggan said that they have expanded the call center hours in the past for extreme weather, but the quickest way to get help is to go to a police precinct.
Duggan said that they entered the winter with 400 more shelter beds and 110 drop-in beds, and they also opened a fairly drop-in center on Dec. 16.
As part of the review, Duggan said that they want to review the housing specialists and how situations are handled so that when people call, they get clear options on what to do.
He also said that there will be policy changes so that any time minors are involved, outreach workers are automatically sent out to do a site visit.
To fill out a homeless outreach request, click here.
