A rundown motel in west Charlotte is closing this week after the city deemed it unsafe. That means about 70 residents had to find new homes quickly. That’s a tall order in a city that has a shortage of affordable housing. The city has put together a team with the help of several nonprofits to assist people in mass displacement situations like this.
Genese Wilson stood in the doorway of what her family had called home for the past seven months — two rooms at the Lamplighter Inn, just off I-85 and Freedom Drive. It was late November and she told another mother staying there that she’s worried what the inn’s closure will mean for her six children.
“Why do it in the month of December? You’ve got to think about … your kids walk to school, so how is that going to work with you for the transportation?” Wilson said. “You already go to work at five in the morning. Things got to make sense. Somebody has to help us.”…