The City of Detroit is working to use $400,000 in emergency funds to help tenants of Park Avenue House, a downtown hotel where residents received notices last weekend indicating they had 30 days to vacate.

“The Mayor has made it very clear that we will not allow people in our city to be treated this way,” said Alexis Wiley, Mayor Mike Duggan’s Chief of Staff. “We demand that landlords treat their tenants with respect. This is not right and we will work with each and every one of these residents to ensure they get enough time and can identify resources to find proper housing.”

A request to move $350,000 in emergency funds to United Community Housing Coalition will go before city council on Tuesday, according to Wiley. The coalition is a local nonprofit that works on housing issues in the city and has taken initiative on this situation. An additional $50,000, Wiley said, is “already in the works and does not need council approval.”

The money will be used to provide moving assistance to those who want to move, as well as free lawyers for those who want to fight the eviction.

Between October 5 and 7, residents at Park Avenue House — a hotel that attracts a number of low-income, long-term "guests" — were given 30-day notices.

The news, which was accompanied by rumors that the building has been sold, highlighted the continued interest in downtown Detroit development but also drew attention to limited affordable housing options in an increasingly desirable city.

"As one of the last affordable places to live, this is displacing many poor and low-wage working people," resident Richard LaBelle wrote in an email to the Detroit Free Press. "It is a shame, and it would be nicer if we had more time, or some assistance — at least some publicity in our plight!"

The Free Press made multiple attempts to reach out to the building's manager Sean Harrington but it has yet to hear back.

The Wayne County Register of Deeds and city assessor's office have yet to show documentation of a sale. As of Sept. 27, the 180-unit, 13-story building, which also houses the Town Pump Tavern and is just south of Little Caesars Arena, was listed for $15 million, according to CPIX, a commercial real estate information exchange.

The building was purchased by Wilbur and Catharina Harrington for $89,275 in 1976. In 1994, they signed a quit-claim deed selling the property for $150,000 to Harrington Properties Inc., whose resident agent is the couple's son, Sean.

Today the younger Harrington, who owns Hot Taco, the Iodent Lofts and Centaur Lounge, manages the building, which, over time, became less a spot for transient guests and more — with its low weekly, biweekly and monthly rates — a home catering to those with limited incomes or cash flow problems.

"If you have bad credit, or a previous eviction, or no money for a security deposit or a criminal background it can be hard to find an apartment. That's why many people chose to live in motels," Alysa Wamsler, a volunteer from Training and Treatment Innovations, a social services program, explained to the Detroit Free Press last fall when we reported on tenants struggling to find new shelter after being kicked out of a Royal Oak Township motel that had been condemned.

Read more:

Historic Detroit hotel evicting all residents

LCA lots violate code with city's blessing

While stories of business owners combating Detroit's toughest times and being able to make a profitable sale after years of hardship are typically celebrated, when the business is also a home, and the sale means displacement, the news is complicated.

The mayor and United Community Housing Coalition met with about 50 to 60 of the building's residents Saturday at Central Methodist Church. According to Wiley, an estimated 90 percent of the tenants in attendance expressed an interest in fighting the eviction.

Read more about the Park Avenue House, the 30-day notices and the growing struggle to find true affordable housing in Detroit here.

Allie Gross is a business reporter with a focus on development, housing affordabilityand income inequality. Contact Allie Gross at AEGross@freepress.com. Connect with her on Twitter @Allie_Elisabeth.