DETROIT (WXYZ) — During a 14-day administrative review, Detroit Deputy Mayor Melia Howard was tasked with investigating what happened in the tragedy involving Tateona Williams' family and to come up with a plan to prevent it from happening again.
Two of Williams' children died while the family slept in a van in a casino parking garage on February 10th.
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Howard said during Thursday's news conference, “I’ve had more than 50 phone calls of people offering support for the Williams-Curry family with their homes and making sure that, again, that this never happens.”
At the news conference, Mayor Mike Duggan laid out a timeline of Williams' contact with the city's homeless services.
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He said Williams first reached out to CAM, the city’s homeless helpline, in December of 2023 to ask for help. Duggan said Williams let CAM know that she and her children were about to lose housing.
The mayor said the family was offered temporary shelter, but Williams ended up finding other housing. He said the city’s homeless team then reached out to Williams in March, April, and May but got no response from her. In the summer, Williams reached out for help again. She ended up staying with a friend.
On November 25th, as Duggan explains, Williams made her last contact with the city, and the city didn't follow up with her.
“Ms. Williams called the CAM hotline and said, 'Where I have been staying in the summer and the fall, I don’t believe is going to be available. I don’t know where I’m going to go do,'" Duggan explained.
The mayor asked the question the first time, why this wasn’t classified as an emergency."
"But as you look at the records, the time of the call, the 'call take' worker put them in a class of somebody who was still housed but did indicate they expected to be unhoused within 14 days and did not send one of our outreach workers out to assess the situation," Duggan said.
Then tragedy struck on February 10th when two of Williams children died while sleeping a vehicle in a casino parking garage.
Duggan said the city had setup an emergency shelter on December 16th, however that was never communicated to Williams.
Pedro and Connie Torrez tell 7 News Detroit they tried calling the CAM system last fall but didn’t get anywhere.
“Why they haven't help us til this day? I haven't got no calls back," he said.
After falling on hard times, the couple and their 14-year-old daughter say they ran out of money for a hotel and then stayed in a friend’s room in the fall on a day-by-day basis. They then found transitional housing at Detroit Power Detroit Community Outreach. That building is slated to close.
Duggan said 76 percent of people who call the CAM system have a roof over their head, even if temporarily.
To better respond to people’s needs, the city’s 7-point plan is as follows. A detailed explanation of the plan can be found at the city's website.
1. Require Site Visits for All Families with Minor Children.
2. Give Special Attention to Finding Families in Vehicles.
3. Expand HelpLine to 24 Hours.
4. Double Number of Drop-In Beds.
5. Expand Night Outreach Teams.
6. Continue Successful Use of Police Precincts as Havens for Safety & Referrals.
7. Expand Street Outreach & Education.
Howard said, “If you need assistance, we are really imploring you to reach out so that we can make these connections and ensure that no family ever has to go through this again.”
