The Lamplighter Inn, a hotel located in Northwest Charlotte, is set to shut down due to a myriad of code violations, leaving nearly 70 tenants facing the prospect of finding new accommodations. City officials have announced the hotel will close on December 11, after labeling the building "unsafe" owing to the 21 open code enforcement cases against it. According to WBTV, residents must now grapple with the difficult transition, while the city is coordinating with partner agencies to offer relocation assistance.
As tenants find themselves having to quickly seek new housing, the city committed to helping those unable to do so by the determined deadline. "Residents that are unable to relocate by December 11 will be provided temporary housing at another hotel or referred to the county’s coordinated entry to connect to homelessness services," explained a city update letter, as obtained by WCNC Charlotte. This effort is part of the city's displacement protocol, which aims to mitigate the impact on affected individuals.
Tenants like Eveco Haggins, who is living at the inn, expressed concerns about the abrupt nature of the closure. "These residents got enough on their mind and on their plate, they don’t need to be worried about the city coming in here and closing doors and throwing their stuff out and all that. Give us the proper channels, proper time," Haggins told WBTV. This sentiment is echoed by other residents, including Bashir Muhammad, who shared his experience with Channel 9, noting the struggle due to "unsettling and inhumane" conditions like fluctuating power and lack of hot water. "It's deplorable," added Robert Dawkins, Policy Director at Action NC, in a WSOC-TV interview.
Action NC, one of the city's partners in this transition, is working on the ground to securely relocate tenants to other hotels. Dawkins explained the process on WSOC-TV: "We gather up all their information and make sure that they can get the assessment done so we can get them moved out of this as quick as we can."
