Residents of the Forest Park Mobile Home Park in northeast Charlotte gathered outside the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center on Monday, urging City Council to reject a proposed rezoning plan they say could force them from their homes.
The working-class, immigrant families own their mobile homes—but not the land—and say the rezoning would allow market-rate apartments to replace their community.
Leo Chavez has lived at the mobile home park with his mom for 15 years, and said he doesn't know where they will live if they're displaced.
"We honestly don't know," he said, "because nowhere in Charlotte are we going to find a place with $500 rent. So yeah, it'll be pretty devastating not only for us, but to everybody who lives there."
They urged council members to vote no and preserve one of the city’s few naturally occurring affordable housing neighborhoods.
City Council held a public hearing on the petition at their Monday night meeting, but did not vote on the proposal.