‘It’s really hard to get out.’ Many in Charlotte motels find housing options limited
William Walker and Crystal Freeman moved into their new place a few months ago. Their room has a bed and a TV, but it’s not in an apartment.
They live at The Royal Inn, a motel in north Charlotte just off Interstate 85.
Walker and Freeman are among the estimated 2,428 people experiencing homelessness, according to Mecklenburg County.
“It’s been kind of tough, but we’ve been surviving,” Walker said.
Walker said he makes enough to afford a cheap apartment for the couple. He already pays $1,400 per month for the hotel room. But like so many others, they run into hurdles such as income requirements and background checks that keep them in motels – or on the streets.
Even without these hurdles, nightly fees alone make it difficult for people with low incomes to save up for apartments. Hotels fees can consume 70-80% of residents’ income, Isaac Sturgil, an attorney at Legal Aid, told The Charlotte Observer.
“It’s really easy to get into a hotel, and it’s really hard to get out,” Sturgil said.
Income requirements
“I got a goal,” Walker said. “And I’m trying to achieve my goal as soon as possible.”
Walker hopes to move into a home by early 2023, but he has run into the same issue time and time again: Landlords want tenants to make three to four times the rent.
In Charlotte, 37% of apartments cost $1,001-$1,500 per month, and 6% cost $701-$1,000 per month, according to RentCafe. (The average monthly rent is $1,639.)
Walker and Freeman’s motel room has no kitchenette, forcing them to eat out more than they’d prefer. Extra costs like food further ensure that Walker pays more to live in a motel than in an affordable apartment.
“They wonder why so many people are homeless or so many hotels are filled up,” Freeman said. “It’s because companies make it so difficult for people to get into the house. It’s not that they couldn’t pay for it. It’s just on paper they don’t make meet your standards or your rules, but they could have been your best customer.”
While health issues keep Freeman from working, the couple will plow forward in their search for a permanent home.
Background checks
Background checks also make some people “unmarketable” to landlords, according to Sturgil, the attorney with Legal Aid. Apartment seekers with credit issues, evictions, and criminal records hit a wall when they apply for housing.
Darius Watts and his family have bounced around motels for a year and a half.
Watts has lived in an apartment, but after his third felony, he and his family moved rather than face eviction.
Hotel life, he said, is “hectic.” Rooms can cost up to $100 per night.
Watts said he constantly worries about moving, feeding his family, and exposing his children to crime and violence.
“You gotta worry about your kids, they ain’t got nowhere to play,” Watts, the father of two children. “Ain’t no way to grow up — subject to the s--t they see: drugs, violence, ruckus.”
Watts dreams of a better living situation, but his options are limited.
Using a Realtor is one possibility.
“I’m always looking for an apartment or a private Realtor, someone who can rent me a house,” he said. “Moreso a house. A small house.”
Expungement of criminal records can be an option for many, but the process is never guaranteed to go smoothly.
North Carolina’s “Second Chance Act,” a bipartisan measure signed into law last year by Gov. Roy Cooper, allows more residents to seek expungements. For example, nonviolent felonies from seven or more years ago are now eligible, in addition to misdemeanors from at least five years ago. Previously, the wait for misdemeanors was 10 years.
“Living in a hotel is the most unstable place that you could call home,” said Habbekah Cannon, a Charlotte lawyer who helps those with criminal records.“ A lot of times people don’t even understand the steps that they can take because they’re so busy trying to survive day to day living in a hotel. That’s not on the forefront of your mind.”
Watts’ record can’t be expunged yet: His most recent felony is from four years ago.
Even if a motel resident does get a felony expunged, the transitory nature of their living situation means they often won’t know about it. It can take anywhere from two to six months or more for an expungement to process, and people are notified through the mail. If someone has moved, they might not know their record is clear.
“It’s hard to get keep in touch with clients who have housing insecurities,” Cannon said.
Evictions, however, cannot be expunged, no matter how much someone is willing to pay, and no matter how long ago someone was evicted.
Evictions tougher to shake
Maya B’s eviction came by surprise.
The pandemic sparked a chain of events that destabilized her life. She lost her service job, but Maya took some comfort in the fact that she still had her north Charlotte apartment. She knew people living in the streets, and she had extra beds. In need of company as she struggled with depression, Maya let her homeless friends stay with her.
Maya’s neighbors were not fond of her guests, she said. They complained that Maya’s friends caused traffic and engaged in drug-related activities, allegations she said were false. Still, when she went to pay her rent in April 2020, she was evicted.
“Now I’m out here just like they were,” Maya said.
For now, Maya, who asked that her last name not be used, often plants herself on the stairs at the Royal Inn, braiding her hair until she’s asked to leave by police or hotel staff. She carries all of her belongings in a small backpack.
Even if an eviction is dismissed, it’s not easy to get it expunged, Sturgil said. Evictions remain on people’s public records, so landlords turn them down.
“It’s actually easier to get rid of a criminal record than it is an eviction history,” Sturgil said.
For short periods since her eviction, Maya shared hotel rooms with other women. Her roommates would steal her belongings, though, and one even chopped her hair off, she said. Maya said she can’t afford a room on her own, but the streets are more appealing to her than living in a motel with unreliable roommates.
Lack of affordable housing
For those who don’t have records to worry about, they face daunting waiting lists for affordable and subsidized housing programs.
Charlotte rents are rapidly rising as the city grows. More apartments and townhomes continue to be built, but there are not enough homes to meet growing demand — let alone affordable ones.
The city has “woefully underfunded” affordable and subsidized housing, according to Justin Tucker, an attorney at Legal Aid. Housing for those with low incomes “does exist,” but the wait could last three to 10 years, he said.
Lola Dior, another Royal Inn resident, says she’s been on the waiting list for RAMPCharMeck, a program that uses federal COVID-19 funds to provide rent relief. Applications for leftover funding reopen monthly, and Dior hopes to find a permanent home for her and her child.
“It’s a stepping stone, but it’s kind of a hard stepping stone,” Dior said of living in a motel. “It gets you prepared for paying your bills on time though, because when you wake up you have to pay everyday.”
“Who can wait?” Freeman asked of waiting lists. “But I get it, because there’s so many people that need the help and not enough people willing to help.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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