A tenant at a downtown Detroit high-rise says she is facing eviction after spending more than a year reporting rats, roaches and serious security failures inside her building. Allanah Morales, who has lived at The Millie on Brush since November 2024, says she once felt a maggot fall into her hair while waiting for the elevator and has heard rats scurrying through her ceiling tiles at 4 a.m. Now, after filing complaints with the city and trying to organize her neighbors, she says her landlord is retaliating by trying to force her out.
Morales's account was first detailed by ClickOnDetroit, which reported that she filed four complaints with Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, or BSEED, over rats in the lobby, roaches inside apartments and numerous security breaches at the 18-story, 338-unit tower at 555 Brush Street. The building sits across the street from the Renaissance Center and has been managed by Southfield-based Village Green since December 2024, according to the outlet. Village Green did not attribute the eviction notice to Morales's complaints, telling ClickOnDetroit that the notice concerns a rent issue, not retaliation.
Morales disputes that characterization. She says she has kept her rent in escrow until the building's problems are fully resolved and believes she is being targeted because of the BSEED complaints she filed, per the same ClickOnDetroit report. Under Michigan law, tenants who withhold rent over unaddressed code violations are generally advised to place those funds in a separate escrow account specifically to defend against nonpayment claims in court, according to the Law Offices of Aaron D. Cox, which notes the state's habitability statute requires landlords to keep units and common areas free of severe pest infestations.
Security Breaches Turned Frightening, Tenant Says
Beyond pests, Morales described a harrowing pattern of security failures inside the building. She says a violent, unstable neighbor once smashed her door with a 2x4, and that on another occasion an unknown person tried to forcibly enter her apartment, forcing her to press her body against the door until police arrived. She also reported that someone urinated in front of her apartment door, the outlet's report states.
Those incidents pushed Morales to try to rally other residents to unionize, and she filed her complaints directly with BSEED. She says she will not be intimidated into silence. The Detroit Tenants Union, whose executive director is Steven Rimmer, stepped in to help Morales and reached out to BSEED on her behalf. Rimmer said that during a door-knocking effort in the building, a resident was found fighting off a rat, underscoring how widespread the infestation problems had become.
City Inspectors Issue Emergency Order
BSEED's involvement was not limited to Morales's complaints. As FOX 2 Detroit reported in June, other residents at The Millie on Brush had already raised alarms about rat infestations in the lobby and security breaches, prompting BSEED Chief Enforcement Officer Arthur Rushin to inspect the property and issue an emergency correction order. BSEED generally issues such emergency orders for indoor rats within three days, Rushin has said, and the department has since issued additional tickets because Village Green did not move fast enough to address the problems. Tickets from BSEED can multiply over time and range from $250 to $1,000, and Rushin has warned that the matter will be referred to the city's Law Department if conditions do not improve.
Village Green has said the property undergoes planned improvement projects and routine preventative maintenance, and that its management includes regular pest-control services. Per BSEED, Village Green also hired an extermination company in response to the department's enforcement action. Rushin has advised tenants to contact BSEED directly after filing a complaint with their management company if problems persist.
Legal Protections Against Retaliation
Michigan law offers specific protections for tenants in Morales's position. Under MCL 600.5720, a court cannot order a tenant evicted if the termination was intended primarily as retribution for reporting health or safety violations or for joining a tenant organization, and the statute creates a legal presumption of retaliation if eviction action begins within 90 days of a tenant's complaint, according to the Monroe County Lawyers legal guide. That presumption shifts the burden onto landlords to prove independent, valid grounds for eviction when a tenant has engaged in protected activity within that window.
Detroit tenants also have municipal tools available. Under the city's Property Maintenance Code, landlords must maintain a valid BSEED Certificate of Compliance to legally rent units, and a landlord's failure to hold one can be raised as a legal defense in Detroit's 36th District Court to block eviction or rent recovery, according to Berry Moorman. Separately, the city's Right to Counsel ordinance, enacted in 2022, guarantees free legal representation through the Office of Eviction Defense for eligible low-income tenants facing eviction cases, covering households at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.
Part Of A Broader Pattern For Village Green
The dispute at The Millie on Brush is not an isolated complaint against Village Green. The company has faced prior public complaints in Michigan, including Better Business Bureau complaints over unaddressed leaks and mold, as well as a federal Fair Housing Act lawsuit filed in Michigan in October 2025. Village Green operates tens of thousands of apartment units across the country from its Southfield headquarters.
The situation also arrives amid a broader push by Mayor Mary Sheffield's administration to crack down on noncompliant landlords citywide. In January, the administration announced a housing compliance initiative coordinating BSEED, the Health Department and the Law Department to enforce housing standards through court-monitored consent agreements rather than relying solely on individual ticket fines, as Hoodline previously reported. That same enforcement framework was on display last month when the Detroit City Council paused a deal with a landlord tied to hundreds of noncompliant rentals across the city.
For now, Morales's case remains unresolved. It is not publicly known whether Village Green currently holds a valid Certificate of Compliance for The Millie on Brush, whether the city's Law Department has formally initiated court proceedings against the company, or what will happen at Morales's pending eviction hearing.
