CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Earlier this year, hundreds were forced to vacate "Tent City", a homeless encampment just north of uptown Charlotte. The county cited the encampment as a public health concern after a major rat infestation was discovered.
But instead of turning a blind eye, the county stepped in to help and partnered with local agencies and non-profits to offer Tent City residents a free 90-day hotel stay, complete with three meals a day, free laundry services, and free counseling to help those with substance abuse or mental illness.
“I was just super excited that I was maybe able to do something, anything to actually help these people and to actually get paid for it, it was a win, win,” said a man WCNC Charlotte spoke with Friday, who wished to speak anonymously.
The man said he recently jumped at the opportunity to work the front desk at one of the county’s two motels, after seeing the images of the encampment in the news.
“We're both sitting in this room and the door is open; anyone can walk up that is staying there and ask for anything, food, Band-Aids, whatever,” he said.
But he said his first shift was filled with one shock after another.
“A guy did come in complaining about cockroaches all over his clothes and acting like it’s happening all the time,” he told us.
But from there he said it only got worse, saying individually-boxed meals that had been delivered that day, were left to sit unrefrigerated for hours.
“They dropped off dinner and breakfast, so they had to drop it off before dinner -- so it had been sitting there all these hours -- and then I got there at 11:30 p.m. and then all night long.”
But he said that didn’t stop the food from being served the next morning.
“We probably gave like 6 people breakfast and like 10 minutes after we gave it to the last person, he goes over to the table and is like, 'ugh there’s spots on those' and just tosses them all.”
The man said the dinner consisted of a chicken dish and the breakfast dish was eggs with hashbrowns.
“The potatoes looked they had popped like popcorn,” he said, after observing them in the morning.
The man said he was so disgusted and disheartened, he quit the job. He said after telling a few family members about it, they convinced him to take what he saw public, in hopes it could bring change to the motel.
The man then posted his experience to the social media site, Nextdoor, which garnered more than 100 comments in the first 24 hours.
WCNC Charlotte then reached out to Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris.
“We have been pulled into conversations about the hotel at this point,” Harris said Friday.
She said she realizes the situation is “not optimal" but said all agencies involved are working to clean things up.
“I do know that that that hotel management is doing what they can, working with different companies to help eradicate any concerns around bugs and rodents,” Harris said.
“Currently the county is paying for the hotel, but there are other entities that are managing the clients and so we’re working with them to help improve the situation at that hotel,” she said.
The man who spoke out, said he did so not to talk badly about the good work he knows is happening there, but simply in the hope that it will get cleaned up.
“I think that their heart is in the right place,” he said.
Earlier this month, the county told WCNC Charlotte that there are currently 140 people remaining at the two hotels and said they extended their services through the end of September to allow more time to allow more people to access a housing resource.
So far, they said 10 people have been moved into permanent housing, with roughly 30 more in the housing search process.