Roof Above has purchased an 88-unit hotel in southwest Charlotte that will serve as an emergency shelter for women and families this winter and transition to permanent supportive housing after renovations next summer.
The hotel was purchased for $5.45 million, and the total estimated cost of the project is $12 million, according to Roof Above, the Charlotte agency that works to provide assistance to homeless. Another $4 million still is needed to complete the renovation and pay for initial operating costs.
The former Quality Inn hotel located at the intersection of Clanton Road and Interstate 77 will fill an immediate need for housing for women and families experiencing homelessness as the Room at the Inn winter shelter program has been suspended during the coronavirus pandemic. Although the organization has added capacity for shelter for men, this hotel will accommodate women and children in a partnership between Roof Above and Salvation Army.
Once renovations are complete, each studio unit will include a kitchen. The facility will replicate Moore Place, which provides affordable housing paired with on-site case management and medical care for those who have experienced chronic homelessness.
“As the pandemic has created financial challenges for hotels and motels nationally, nonprofits like Roof Above are stepping in to buy facilities we can use for important public purposes – creating a win-win for everybody,” Roof Above CEO Liz Clasen-Kelly said in a news release. “The hotel is already equipped to serve as safe shelter to help the community through this winter, and by the end of 2021, we aim to bring these units online as permanent housing for 88 of our most vulnerable neighbors.”
The project was funded by a combination of government and private funds, including $2 million in CARES Act funding from the City of Charlotte, $1 million from the Springsteen Foundation, $500,000 from Duke Energy Foundation and a contribution from John McKibbon and the McKibbon Family Foundation.
