Current:Home > InvestHomeless woman was living inside Michigan rooftop store sign with computer and coffee maker -ProsperityStream Academy
Homeless woman was living inside Michigan rooftop store sign with computer and coffee maker
View
Date:2025-04-15 19:36:47
Contractors curious about an extension cord on the roof of a Michigan grocery store made a startling discovery: A 34-year-old woman was living inside the business sign, with enough space for a computer, printer and coffee maker, police said.
“She was homeless,” Officer Brennon Warren of the Midland Police Department said Thursday. “It’s a story that makes you scratch your head, just somebody living up in a sign.”
The woman, whose name was not released, told police she had a job elsewhere but had been living inside the Family Fare sign for roughly a year, Warren said. She was found April 23.
Midland, best known as the global home of Dow Inc., is 130 miles (209 kilometers) north of Detroit.
The Family Fare store is in a retail strip with a triangle-shaped sign at the top of the building. The sign structure, probably 5 feet (1.5 meter) wide and 8 feet (2.4 meters) high, has a door and is accessible from the roof, Warren said.
“There was some flooring that was laid down. A mini desk,” he said. “Her clothing. A Keurig coffee maker. A printer and a computer — things you’d have in your home.”
The woman was able to get electricity through a power cord plugged into an outlet on the roof, Warren said.
There was no sign of a ladder. Warren said it’s possible the woman made her way to the roof by climbing up elsewhere behind the store or other retail businesses.
“I honestly don’t know how she was getting up there. She didn’t indicate, either,” he said.
A spokesperson for SpartanNash, the parent company of Family Fare, said store employees responded “with the utmost compassion and professionalism.”
“Ensuring there is ample safe, affordable housing continues to be a widespread issue nationwide that our community needs to partner in solving,” Adrienne Chance said, declining further comment.
Warren said the woman was cooperative and quickly agreed to leave. No charges were pursued.
“We provided her with some information about services in the area,” the officer said. “She apologized and continued on her way. Where she went from there, I don’t know.”
The director of a local nonprofit that provides food and shelter assistance said Midland — which has a population 42,000 — needs more housing for low-income residents.
“From someone who works with the homeless, part of me acknowledges she was really resourceful,” said Saralyn Temple of Midland’s Open Door. “Obviously, we don’t want people resorting to illegal activity to find housing. There are much better options.”
___
Follow Ed White on X at https://twitter.com/edwritez
veryGood! (237)
Related
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Nasty Gal End-of-Season Sale: Shop 25 Under $50 Everyday Essentials
- Ringleader of 6-person crime syndicate charged with 76 counts of theft in Kentucky
- Joe Manganiello Gets Massive New Tattoo Following Sofia Vergara Breakup
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- Below Deck Down Under Loses Another Crewmember After Heartbreaking Firing
- Two adults, two young children found fatally stabbed inside New York City apartment
- Mega Millions $1 million ticket unclaimed in Iowa; Individual has two weeks before it expires
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Indiana police arrest 2nd man in July shooting at massive block party that killed 1, injured 17
Ranking
- Chuck Scarborough signs off: Hoda Kotb, Al Roker tribute legendary New York anchor
- Double threat shapes up as Tropical Storm Idalia and Hurricane Franklin intensify
- Constance Wu, Corbin Bleu will star in off-Broadway production of 'Little Shop of Horrors'
- Get $30 off These Franco Sarto Lug Sole Loafers Just in Time for Fall
- Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
- A fire-rescue helicopter has crashed in Florida; officials say 2 are injured
- Some of the 2,000 items stolen from the British Museum were recovered, officials say
- 10 people charged in kidnapping and death of man from upstate New York homeless encampment
Recommendation
Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
Olivia Culpo Shares Update on Sister Sophia Culpo After Breakup Drama
DeSantis booed at vigil for Jacksonville shooting victims
A rare look at a draft of Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic I Have a Dream speech
Jamie Foxx reps say actor was hit in face by a glass at birthday dinner, needed stitches
Spanish soccer federation leaders asks president Rubiales to resign after kissing player on the lips
Benches clear twice in an inning as Rays hand Yankees another series defeat
Former Pirates majority owner and newspaper group publisher G. Ogden Nutting has died at 87