DETROIT (WXYZ) — It's been roughly 10 days since a massive water main break flooded a southwest Detroit neighborhood, and recovery is still an uphill battle. However, progress is being made.
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Roughly 450 people are still being housed in hotels. The city is providing them 3 meals a day, but some say recently the meals they get from the hotels have been inadequate.
“Giving us hot dogs for dinner, macaroni and cheese," said displaced resident Doran Smith, who is staying in a Southfield hotel. "My kids won't eat it.”
Smith says he's either relied on food from volunteers or paid for other meals.
"I can't eat it. My kids won't eat it. I've been spending a lot of money on DoorDash, Uber all that,” said Smith. "There's good people helping out bringing tamales and tacos, but without our neighborhood, it’s terrible.”
Some photos of the meals were making the rounds on social media, showing hot dogs, minimal sandwiches, or plates of potato chips with chicken and shredded cheese on top.
“I did see some of the photos, and my reaction was we need to change," said Julie Schneider, Director of the City of Detroit's Housing and Revitalization Department.
About a week ago, she says they went from using food trucks to using the hotels themselves to provide 3 meals to the residents. However, she says that will now change.
“We want to make sure the hotel experience is good, and we recognize clearly, seeing those photos, that it was appropriate for us to change quickly and today,” said Schneider.
Schneider says they were just made aware of the food quality concerns.
"Most of the concerns from the residents of the actual hotel had been about timing of when the meal service was available and accounting for people's different work hours and such,” said Schneider.
Schneider says after the complaints, the city will now contract with local food trucks to cater in lunch and dinner, as they did in the first few days.
“The city is doing what they can. I don't think they was ever prepared for this,” said Jessica Ramirez, Founder of Detroiters Helping Each Other.
Ramirez and many in the community have been on the ground assisting since day one.
“Every person on the ground is absolutely amazing doing the footwork," said Ramirez. "The community is coming together, but there is a lack of communication.”
So far, the city says 64 basements have been cleaned out of the roughly 200 in total they plan to get to. Ramirez says there have been many issues, but much of it is being addressed.
“Every address that I seen a complaint about I was able to call our District 6 manager Torres and tell her and within 5-10 minutes that homeowner called me like “hey, they called me, they’re on their way. They came,'” said Ramirez.
As for those relying on the hotel meals, they're happy change is coming.
“A little bit late, but better late than never," said Smith. "I'm glad they’re doing it."
Ramirez says when this work is all over with, she hopes the City will sit down with the Southwest community to get feedback on this response to be better prepared in the future.
