West Charlotte motel serving over 100 families set to close its doors

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Owners of the Southern Comfort Inn in west Charlotte has notified the city it intends to close its doors at the end of this month.

It is an extended stay motel that also serves as sort of a private shelter, offering low-income people a place to live and gets help from faith-based organizations and churches. Its closure will impact more than 100 local families.

Last year, the inn’s general manager nearly closed the doors, saying while they do get help, so many people were thousands of dollars behind in rent that the inn couldn’t afford to stay open.

Related: West Charlotte motel at risk of closure after some tenants refuse to pay rent

Now, general manager Traci Canterbury-Jones sent out a letter saying they’re in the same position and will have to shut down June 30.

In the letter, Canterbury-Jones says despite the previous efforts from CharMeck RAMP, which helps provide rental and utility assistance, too many people aren’t paying their rent at the inn. They provide meals, clothing, groceries and after-school care to families.

Canterbury-Jones goes on to say that some guests are refusing to pay and it would be too cumbersome to go through the eviction process for so many people who have nowhere else to go. Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles brought up the situation at Tuesday night’s city council meeting

“We are struggling in this community just to keep people in their homes,” Lyles said. “But we need to put all of our efforts around it and we need to make sure we do as much as possible so we don’t increase people that are homeless on our streets, especially our children.”

Lyles said the city council will be reaching out to the Southern Comfort Inn, the non-profits who help support it and other agencies to see what they can do to keep the doors open and prevent those nearly 200 people from losing the roof over their heads.

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