Introduction

Tenant organizers and other low-income senior housing advocates with the Senior Housing Preservation – Detroit (SHP-D) coalition were shocked to learn that several building managers took leave without establishing safety precautions for congregate housing. This coalition had a new purpose in the pandemic and convened to discuss issues that continued to go unaddressed. Founded in 2013 as a coalition of 15 organizations fighting for the preservation of subsidized, low-income senior housing in Detroit, SHP-D has a three-pronged mission: first, SHP-D works to preserve existing low-income housing for seniors in the face of displacement; second, SHP-D devotes time and resources for seniors who, despite their long terms of residency, are forced from their homes by development; and third, SHP-D seeks to preserve the intergenerational character of rapidly changing neighborhoods in Detroit (Perry et al, 2015; Perry et al, 2017). Coalition members worked together throughout 2020 to meet the coalition's strategic plan (see Perry et al, 2020 for more detail on the development of the strategic plan) of 1) understanding the changing context, 2) advocacy, and 3) making connections applied to a worldwide pandemic. This chapter written by three of the coalition's members and a doctoral student in history integrates their own perspectives and work in the City of Detroit. Tam Perry is a social work faculty member at Wayne State University in midtown Detroit and focused on the intersection of macro social work and gerontology; Claudia Sanford is a tenant organizer at the prominent housing agency, United Community Housing Coalition and offers on-the-ground perspectives in her multiple interactions in senior buildings; and Dennis Archambault of the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority champions the integration of health concerns in addressing the needs of those in senior buildings. James McQuaid's grounding in Detroit's history adds to the chapter as well.