The event is FREE and ALL ARE WELCOME! No need to RSVP. Please consider making a financial gift to DEFEND HOUSING DIGNITY. All net proceeds benefit the Detroit Tenants Union, whose mission is to educate, advocate, and effectuate change for Detroit residents facing housing instability and insecurity.
HELP DEFEND HOUSING DIGNITY
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Novi Civic Center
45175 Ten Mile Road
Novi, MI
Event is FREE with light refreshments. ALL are welcome. No RSVP needed.
Karen Lippowiths will be available during the event for a meet & greet.
PUBLIC RECEPTION
Through her lens, award-winning photographer, Karen Lippowiths, reveals a hidden America — the precarious lives of individuals surviving in America's shadow housing market in EXTENDED STAY. Lippowiths reveals the quiet resilience and stark vulnerability of lives often lived in limbo. Her intimate, unsentimental portraits humanize those marginalized. Further, it challenges viewers to confront the consequences of housing policy, economic inequality, and the seemingly invisible hand that guides difficult personal choices. Her work aims to see what society chooses to ignore, and asks the questions: What is housing dignity? Who defends it? What happens if no one does?
NOVI CIVIC CENTER
APRIL 1 - 30, 2026
EXTENDED STAY:
INSIDE AMERICA'S SHADOW HOUSING SYSTEM
THURSDAY, APRIL 16
KAREN LIPPOWITHS PRESENTS
A DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT
With a contribution of $50 or more, receive a pinback button to wear the night of the show opening and choice of a signed 5x7 fine art print matted to 8x10 as thanks for your support. Prints available for pickup April 16 or shipped free. *
MAKE A GIFT
MAKE A DONATION
$25
With a contribution of $25 or more, receive a pinback button to wear the night of the show opening (April 16) as thanks for your support. *
DEFEND HOUSING DIGNITY
The Detroit Tenants Union works to create:
LEADERSHIP & BASE BUILDING
Train and deploy tenant leaders to build durable, dues-sustaining tenant unions with measurable growth targets.
LEGAL ENFORCEMENT & PROTECTION
Fund formal complaints, strategic litigation support, eviction defense coordination, and regulatory enforcement against negligent landlords.
POLICY & SYSTEMS CHANGE
Advance ordinance campaigns, research-backed policy proposals, and ballot strategies that institutionalize tenant protections citywide.
PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY
Produce investigative reports, data tracking systems, media strategy, and coordinated escalation campaigns to shift power dynamics.
DTU MISSION :
DTU Director, Steven Rimmer (pictured top left), spearheads advocacy efforts for the displaced residents of the Leland Hotel including community organization, legal advocacy, education, and fundraising events.
* Proceeds of all sales (gross sales minus expenses for pins, matted prints, postcards, and merchant service fees) benefit the Detroit Tenants Union. 100% proceeds go to DTU for sales prior to April 1. A commission of every gross sale is due to the City of Novi April 1 - 30, 2026. Prints are available for pick up on April 16 or will be mailed after the event if not picked up. Pins are available for PICK UP the night of the event only. No pins are shipped.