The 99-year-old hotel, visible from the Fisher Freeway, was immortalized in the White Stripes’ 2001 song, Hotel Yorba. Frontman, Jack White, grew up not far from the property.

In the 1920s, the Yorba thrived as a residential hotel for workers building the Ambassador Bridge. Gerry Jankowski purchased it in 1984, housing primarily low-income tenants and welfare recipients.

To align with government subsidies, he twice lowered rents in a single year, charging $204 per month for one of the 300 rooms, while subsidies covered only $174. Jankowski suggested residents make up the $30 gap by collecting ten bottles a day at ten cents apiece —a little skin in the game.

With no profit to sustain operations, critical repairs and upgrades went undone. In 2020, Jankowski listed the property for $2.95M.

Monday, the City of Detroit carried out the eviction. Officials arranged U-Hauls, transportation, and placements in other low-cost hotels. A few residents were allowed back briefly to gather belongings. I watched tenants scurry through the single unboarded door, hauling as much as they could in the narrow window of time.

I met several residents as well as Jankowski himself. When I returned the following day, three men were living out of their cars in the parking lot. The vehicles, immobilized and in total disrepair but serving as shelter from last night's heavy rain, were tagged to be towed off the property the following day.  One simply needed a flat tire inflated to carry the evicted resident on.  Instead, it was removed and sits behind a fence and the $300 reclaim fee at the towing yard.

The fate of these residents remains uncertain at best, heartbreakingly predictable at worst.  We are only left with questions and little in the way of answers.

1. What responsibility does the City bear for a privately-owned facility, beyond its condemnation?

2. Were decades of deferred maintenance, low rents, and lack of reinvestment a worthy tradeoff for the hotel’s eventual demise?

3. How does this eviction reflect broader patterns of poverty and housing insecurity in Detroit and beyond?



Images from Hotel Yorba will be on display as part of Karen Lippowiths's Extended Stay photographic exhibit during the month of April at the Novi Civic Center at 45175 W 10 Mile Rd. All are invited to the opening event Thursday, April 16 6-8 p.m., which features light refreshments. Lippowiths will be on hand for a meet-and-greet as part of the event.