A rundown motel in west Charlotte is closing this week after the city deemed it unsafe. That means about 70 residents had to find new homes quickly. That’s a tall order in a city that has a shortage of affordable housing. The city has put together a team with the help of several nonprofits to assist people in mass displacement situations like this.
Genese Wilson stood in the doorway of what her family had called home for the past seven months — two rooms at the Lamplighter Inn, just off I-85 and Freedom Drive. It was late November and she told another mother staying there that she’s worried what the inn’s closure will mean for her six children.
“Why do it in the month of December? You've got to think about ... your kids walk to school, so how is that going to work with you for the transportation?” Wilson said. “You already go to work at five in the morning. Things got to make sense. Somebody has to help us.”
The city now has a team in place to help people when a motel or apartment building suddenly shuts down and leaves residents scrambling to find new homes. In this case, the city decided to close the motel because it racked up so many code violations and the owner blocked access to the site for repairs. That gave the team just over two weeks to find new places for residents to stay.
Wilson was packing her belongings inside her crowded room. She didn’t know how her family was going to get through Christmas.
“I have no way to provide anything for my children,” Wilson said. “I have to take whatever I can get for this month of December and place it going forward for bills.”
City staff and nonprofits began thinking they needed a coordinated response to help families in this situation after the sale of a property in south Charlotte’s Sterling neighborhood in 2022. It left about 40 families needing to find new homes within a few weeks. That’s becoming more common as the city grows — land switches hands, and residents paying low rents are displaced to make way for new ones that can afford more.
“And with each one, you have vulnerable people, and they go to different people. Some will go to a city council member, some a county commissioner, some will go to an agency. Others will go to a United Way,” said Carol Hardison, the head of Crisis Assistance Ministry. “So, we wanted the families to have one place, one place to go at this time.”
Hardison says there have been at least five situations over the past three years where a motel or apartment has shut abruptly. The reasons also include burst pipes and code violations. The mass displacement team was created about a year and a half ago.
Crisis Assistance Ministry helps find families a temporary place to stay like a motel or shelter, while the group helps track down a long-term solution. The Housing Collaborative, Action NC, and Legal Aid North Carolina are part of the team.
Legal Aid attorney Justin Tucker said part of the group’s role is letting residents know their rights.
“They have to go through the judicial process in order to get them out,” Tucker said. “They can't use self-help eviction tactics in order to force them out of the property, like turning off the lights, turning off the water, or turning off the gas. Stuff like that could be considered illegal and could be considered a self-help eviction.”
That’s what happened to residents of the Lamplighter Inn. The owner, Chandresh Patel, disconnected electricity, gas and water. Patel did not respond to WFAE's request for comment.
The mass displacement team was able to intervene, pick up the tab and restore those services.
Tucker calls that a success, along with the speed at which the team assessed the needs of residents and moved them out. But he says the team could take action earlier before utilities are shut off and code violations rack up nearly $14,000 of fines, as in the case of the Lamplighter Inn.
“What we are learning is that some of these issues have been going on for a long period of time before they hit the precipice of where we’re at,” Tucker said. “When the team starts hearing little buzzes of issues going on at these properties maybe step in a little bit earlier.”
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles has called on the City Council to strengthen enforcement of the city’s code violations to help families living in unsafe conditions and avoid mass displacements. Action NC and other groups have outlined a proposal if an owner won’t make repairs. The idea is the city would pay for the repairs, place a lien on the property, and take possession through foreclosure keeping the property safe and affordable.
As for the residents of the Lamplighter Inn, all have moved out before Wednesday’s deadline. The team moved Wilson and her family into four rooms in a hotel and covered at least their first month’s stay.
“Everybody is really comfortable," Wilson said. "We have a refrigerator. We can have a place where we can cook. They give us breakfast.”
Some of Wilson’s belongings are still at the Lamplighter Inn. But she says drug dealers and addicts have taken over the place and made it hard to get her things.
“I mean, I'm actually loving where I'm at. It's just I need to get the rest of my belongings out of that other situation. So that way I could be done with that hotel,” Wilson said.
The ultimate goal is to find a permanent home for Wilson and the others who have been displaced. The team says that could take another one to three months.
