Both elevators at a 10-story senior apartment building on Detroit's Southfield Service Drive have been broken or malfunctioning for eight months, forcing elderly residents to climb stairs just to reach their own apartments, while bedbugs spread through the complex at the same time. Residents of Greenhouse Apartments say the dual crisis has made daily life at the 200-unit subsidized senior housing complex increasingly untenable.
The breakdown was detailed in reporting by WWJ Newsradio 950, which found that both elevators serving the building have been out of service or unreliable for eight months, compounding an ongoing bedbug problem inside the complex. Residents told FOX 2 Detroit they have been forced to use the stairs because the building's elevator is not working, a hardship for a population of elderly tenants who often depend on mobility aids or regular medical appointments.
A Building Meant to Be Rehabilitated
The maintenance failures come despite a substantial public investment aimed at improving the property. In October 2023, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority Board approved an $18.5 million loan for Greenhouse Apartments to finance rehabilitation across its 209 senior units and 11 accessible units, according to the State of Michigan. Three years later, residents are still contending with broken elevators and pest infestations, raising questions about how that rehabilitation funding has translated into day-to-day habitability.
Public employment listings updated this month identify KMG Prestige, Inc. as the property management firm responsible for on-site operations at Greenhouse Apartments, per a KMG Prestige job posting. The complex operates under HUD Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, with tenant rent contributions capped at 30% of household income for qualifying low-income seniors, according to housing records from Affordable Housing Online.
Residents Were Housed in Livonia
Greenhouse residents were housed in Livonia, BridgeDetroit reported.
Local code enforcement has also had the building on its radar. A March 2026 City of Detroit document recorded that the city's Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department had inspected 49 senior housing facilities across Detroit, including Greenhouse Apartments, to review safety conditions, according to a City of Detroit filing.
State Rules Govern Elevator Repairs
Elevator outages at residential buildings in Michigan are not left to property managers alone to resolve. Under the Michigan Elevator Safety Board Act, passenger elevators must undergo annual safety inspections administered by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, and any unit sealed out of service must be reported to LARA within 48 hours. Administrative rules published by LARA in June 2023 further specify that elevator emergency repair permits are capped at two items, and any restored elevator must be inspected and tested by a licensed elevator journeyperson before it can return to official service.
Those rules are designed to prevent exactly the kind of prolonged outage Greenhouse Apartments residents describe. An eight-month breakdown of both elevators in a 10-story building raises the question of how such an extended outage squares with a regulatory system built around rapid reporting and licensed inspection before restoration.
A Wider Problem Across Metro Detroit
Greenhouse Apartments is not an isolated case among the region's senior housing stock. In February 2026, WDIV Local 4 reported that elderly tenants at the Washington Boulevard Building Senior Apartments in downtown Detroit experienced complete elevator failures, forcing mobility-impaired residents to climb up to 15 flights of stairs, as covered by ClickOnDetroit. Pest problems have similarly cropped up elsewhere: the same WWJ Newsradio 950 reporting documented a complex-wide bedbug outbreak at the five-story McNamara Tower in Livonia, part of a broader pattern of pest management challenges at senior facilities across Metro Detroit.
Taken together, the repeated breakdowns at Greenhouse Apartments and comparable buildings highlight a persistent gap between the money and oversight meant to protect senior tenants and the conditions those tenants actually encounter. For now, residents at Greenhouse Apartments say they are still climbing stairs and living with bedbugs, with no timeline given for when both elevators will be fully restored.
