One Oakland County group that helps the homeless has been paid for unauthorized charges by an Auburn Hills hotel. Two more are waiting.

Each pays for temporary emergency shelter on a limited basis, using credit cards on file with several different hotels. At least three groups experienced unauthorized charges from Suburban Studios,1180 Doris Road in Auburn Hills.

Micah 6, a Pontiac-based nonprofit that provides food, activities for children and other community engagement, found unauthorized charges totaling $2,616.01 between January and mid-March.

Suburban Studios contacted the nonprofit on March 24 after inquiries from The Oakland Press and promised to reverse the charges. Katie Romska, Micah 6’s operations director, said the charges were reversed six days later.

Karen Plants, operations manager at Hope Shelters in Pontiac, continues to wait for the return of over $3,000 in unauthorized charges from 2024. The nonprofit disputed the charges, but Suburban Studios told the credit card company the charges were valid.

The homeless advocates believe that the hotel is not removing credit card information from the files of people they have previously helped.

In at least one case, Hope Shelters learned that a man they aided used the hotel again, but neither he nor the hotel clerk contacted Hope Shelters to authorize room charges.

Plants said she filed a complaint with the state attorney general’s office last month.

Dalania Stevens, the founder and executive director of D House of Angels, helps women escaping domestic violence and had rented rooms for them at Suburban until last year.

She stopped using the hotel last year after disputing a $150 charge — a fight she lost. In that case, Stevens said, a woman who had checked into the hotel asked to be moved because the hotel had cockroaches. Auburn Hills inspection records show that the incident is one of the complaints against Suburban from last year. Stevens moved her client, but the hotel refused to refund the money.

“I told them to put it on a bill for someone else who needed it,” she said.

In December, Suburban attempted another $150 charge on the nonprofit’s credit card, but the charge was declined because it would have exceeded the credit limit.

Suburban Studios is one of four Auburn Hills hotels being scrutinized by the city. Each is at risk of losing their operating license. The other hotels include:

• MainStay Suites, 1650 N. Opdyke Road;

• Baymont Inn, 2100 Featherstone Road;

• Red Roof Inn, 1294 N. Opdyke Road.

Records show all had violated the city’s length-of-stay limits, which range from 30 to 90 consecutive days, depending on the room size and whether it has a kitchen.

In Suburban’s case, the city documented health and safety violations that continued for more than six months. The problems included damaged fire doors, non-functional emergency lighting, trash, cockroaches and records that did not document relationships between adults and children sharing a room. Unauthorized charges were not part of the inspection list.

Attorney Peter Joelson of the Farmington Hills-based firm Joelson Rosenberg represented Suburban’s owner, Auburn Hills Hospitality, at a recent Auburn Hills city council meeting as part of a license-renewal request.

He said Suburban was in a state of disrepair when Auburn Hills Hospitality acquired the property at the end of 2023. It is one of 24 hotels the group owns and manages, he said.

During the Feb. 17 meeting, the council granted Suburban Studios 120 days to resolve length-of-stay issues, according to city manager Thomas Tanghe.

“However, the city granted Suburban Studios 60 days to resolve everything else,” he said, which includes health and safety issues documented by city inspectors.

City inspectors were told to return to Suburban Studios before the council’s April 21 meeting. If the health and safety issues aren’t resolved, Tanghe said, a hotel representative will be summoned to the April 21 council meeting to explain why and answer the council’s questions.

An unpaid water bill for more than $4,000 from February has been paid, Tanghe said, but a $133.35 late fee has not. On March 28, Stevens spotted a $14.22 charge from Suburban on D House of Angels’ credit card. She’s disputing it.

“If Suburban fights that and wins I’m only out $14.22 this time, but it’s the principle. What if it was $150 or $300?” she said. “They didn’t call to authorize the charge.”

She has ordered new credit cards to avoid future charges.

“I don’t want to go through the hassle of always trying to get my money back,” she said.

Joelson, Suburban’s attorney, did not respond to The Oakland Press’ calls for comment.