Residents of a West Charlotte affordable housing community for seniors say they spent the hottest months of the year without working air conditioning in hallways and some apartments, while a fourth-floor elevator sat broken since May. Faye Gause, who has lived at The Retreat at Renaissance for about 12 years, said people in the complex had lived all summer without working air conditioning.
The Retreat at Renaissance, a 110-unit development for fixed-income seniors and residents with disabilities, is managed by Laurel Street Management. As reported by WBTV, the elevator serving Gause's fourth-floor building did not respond to its call button and displayed a sign stating it would take her up but would not bring her down, according to residents. Gause told the station the decline at the complex began about three or four years ago.
Daisy Marshall, who has lived at the complex for about eight years, said her apartment had been without air conditioning and that she was told a needed air-conditioning part had been on order for two months. Without a working elevator, residents said they had to use another floor, a second elevator, or the stairs to reach other floors of the building.
Management Points to Vendor Delays Amid Record Heat
Dionne Nelson, president and CEO of Laurel Street Management, said in a statement that parts had been difficult to receive in a timely manner and that vendors were difficult to schedule and substantially behind normal schedules during a summer with constant temperatures above 100 degrees. The complaints arrived as prolonged heat waves pushed heat index values between 100 and 105 degrees across Charlotte during July and August, according to WCNC, prompting Mecklenburg County to open public cooling centers.
Nelson said the company takes residents' concerns seriously and that it supplied window air-conditioning units to residents whose AC was not working while the vendor issue was addressed. According to neighbors, those window units caused some residents' electric bills to rise. Management prioritized resident unit repairs over hallway air conditioning repairs, the station's report notes, leaving hallway air conditioning down even as some individual apartments were fixed.
Repairs Follow Media Visit, but Residents Vow to Keep Pushing
Residents reported that cool air was running in some apartments and that the elevator had been fixed after the WBTV visit. Even so, residents said they will continue pushing for further repairs. Gause, who advocates for every person living in the building, had pushed for her own unit's air conditioning to be repaired before the broader fixes emerged.
The situation highlights a gap in North Carolina housing law. Under North Carolina General Statutes § 42-42, landlords are required to maintain in good and safe working order any air conditioning units and appliances they supply, though the law does not require landlords to provide cooling systems in the first place. Tenants whose landlords fail to repair provided AC units or maintain fit living conditions can seek rent abatement in Small Claims Court to recover damages for the reduced rental value of their apartment, according to Legal Aid of North Carolina.
City Weighs Closing the Cooling Loophole
In August, Charlotte city leaders considered amending the city's minimum housing code to mandate air conditioning in all rental properties, since local housing rules historically only required heating capabilities, per Queen City News. Residents facing unresolved violations can also file a complaint through the city's 311 system, which triggers a Code Enforcement inspector to investigate within three business days, according to the City of Charlotte.
The Retreat at Renaissance opened in late 2013 on the former site of the demolished Boulevard Homes public housing complex, part of a broader 41-acre Renaissance redevelopment funded in part by a $20.9 million HUD HOPE VI grant awarded to the Charlotte Housing Authority in 2010, along with $12 million in city infrastructure and housing trust funds, per Laurel Street. The complex's 110 single-bedroom units were built with central heating and air conditioning, elevator access, and floor-by-floor laundry centers designed for senior accessibility.
Laurel Street, founded in 2011 by Nelson, is a Charlotte-based developer with a regional portfolio exceeding 6,000 units and manages more than 4,000 units through LSA Management. The company has continued expanding its footprint in West Charlotte, having acquired 2.7 acres donated by Crescent Communities in the River District in January to build an 87-unit mixed-income complex, a project tied to a nearby firehouse groundbreaking covered by Hoodline last week.
