Most tenants now out of the rundown Lamplighter Inn that drew city of Charlotte scrutiny
The majority of people living in a rundown west Charlotte hotel have now been moved out ahead of the building’s Dec. 11 closure, according to a nonprofit official working with the city.
Tenants began moving out of the Lamplighter Inn on Nov. 29 when they were locked out of their rooms because their key cards stopped working, said Carol Hardison, the CEO of Crisis Assistance Ministry.
“They were stressed, angry, freaking out,” Hardison said. “But then, when they realized you’re really putting them in a decent hotel — tears, hugs.”
City leaders announced Nov. 22 that the hotel must close because of unlivable conditions. More than 60 people on the verge of homelessness had been living there.
The Charlotte Observer was the first to report on the conditions in a July investigation showing how a nonprofit that planned supportive housing at the hotel later bailed on the plan, then a business with connections to that nonprofit moved people into the property anyway.
City officials partnered with Hardison’s nonprofit and other groups to help the tenants with moves before Dec. 11., and other needs. The room lockouts sped up that timeline, Hardison told the Observer on Thursday.
Tenants say they’re in better conditions now
One former resident of the Lamplighter now stays at a hotel near the gas station where she works, Hardison said. That tenant sent Hardison a video saying she was happy with her new room.
One Lamplighter tenant remains because he’s been working as a truck driver and hasn’t been able to move his belongings yet, Hardison said.
Any remaining people in the building are squatters, she said.
“When we look at our original list of all the names we had gathered, we have all of those names,” Hardison said. But the nonprofit will help “if one or two randomly pops up that we could verify.”
Hardison said the moves weren’t easy because people needed to live near work and schools.
Friends of some people at the hotel helped move, Hardison said.
She said she also called for help from Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition, which does street outreach for people experiencing homelessness, and Roof Above, a nonprofit that offers shelter and housing services.
One of the groups got the tenants a U-Haul to make moving easier, Hardison said.
“They were moved out in two days,” she said. “It was chaotic.”
Apryl Lewis, an advocate and founder of Kinetic Works LLC who has been working closely with the tenants on solving problems at the hotel, said that despite needing to rush, things worked out better for many.
“The community effort is the strongest thing that I’ll highlight,” Lewis said. “And those that actually wanted to help.”
Some Lamplighter tenants moved into the hotel early this year believing they’d be part of a supportive housing program called Vermelle’s Place. But the Observer found the program, which advertised counseling, health services and affordable rent, never happened.
Instead, the tenants were left stranded in rooms with leaking ceilings, cockroaches, poor plumbing, and water they didn’t feel comfortable drinking.
The building has 21 pending code violations, a city news release previously said. City officials have yet to respond to a Nov. 14 public records request from The Charlotte Observer for records about those violations.
Hardison said having the tenants in new hotels while the nonprofits work on finding them permanent housing is more ideal than leaving them in the conditions at the Lamplighter Inn, which is located on Eddleman Road off Interstate 85.
“We don’t have this horror of the disgusting place they’re having to live in, in the meantime,” she said. “It went from the very worst possible thing for the holidays that it could have possibly been to just pure joy.”
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 3:11 PM.
