City info was wrong: No vacate notice for low-income tenants at west Charlotte hotel
A message from city staff to Charlotte City Council members last week that said tenants living in a rundown northwest Charlotte hotel were given a 30-day notice to vacate was incorrect, a city spokesman said.
“There’s no 30-day notice,” Lawrence Corley, a media relations manager with the city of Charlotte, said on Wednesday. “That was a miscommunication.”
The error left tenants at the Lamplighter Inn confused last week because they said without the hotel they have nowhere to go and would be homeless. They said they hadn’t received any vacate notices and weren’t sure who was trying to kick them out.
The city’s error was included in information council members received Friday about conditions at the hotel, located at 4425 Eddleman Road.
Corley said Charlotte Housing and Neighborhood Services provided the information to council members, and will continue to share what’s happening at the hotel through weekly reports.
The Friday message to council said the city helped get some utilities restored after they were shut off without warning, and helped arrange for nonprofits to assist tenants.
Some of the hotel’s more than 60 tenants moved to the property early this year because they thought they would be part of a nonprofit-run supportive housing program called Vermelle’s Place. They were supposed to receive affordable rent and on-site health services, counselors and a housing specialist.
But a Charlotte Observer investigation published in July found tenants instead lived in rooms with poor plumbing, leaking ceilings, cockroaches and water they didn’t feel comfortable drinking. And services weren’t being offered there.
The nonprofit ended its lease with the hotel, handing the program over to 4C, a private company, which also backed away after plans with the owner fell through. Conditions have gotten worse since then, tenants said.
Utilities, including water, electricity, and gas have been shut off without warning, rooms continue to fall into disrepair, and trash has piled up since it has stopped being picked up consistently. Water and electricity were restored, but tenants have been without gas for almost two weeks.
Corley said water was turned off again at the building without warning on Wednesday, but was restored shortly after the same day. It has left tenants on edge, wondering when the next utility might get turned off without warning.
And now, tenants said, some of the key cards they use to unlock the doors to their rooms have stopped working, adding additional stress. Hassan Hoff and Archie Hoskins, both tenants at the hotel, said they were worried about being locked out.
Hoff, who moved into the hotel in June with his 1-year-old daughter and his girlfriend, said he’s been worried about getting accidentally locked out.
Hoskins, who has lived at the hotel since February, said he and several other tenants have health issues and disabilities. If they get locked out, they might lose access to life-saving medication or things they need to be able to move around.
They said a hotel employee who lived on the property used to have a master key to help tenants get into their rooms, but he left without warning this week.
Although he denied owning the hotel when asked by the Observer last week, Corley and the Mecklenburg Register of Deeds said it is owned by Comodo Care LLC, which is a company of Chandresh Patel.
He’s declined and not responded to requests for interviews, and did not respond to a call Thursday seeking comment.
