CHARLOTTE — Residents at a Charlotte hotel said management told them to leave, and then proceeded to shut off power and water in violation of the state’s guidelines against evictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Ralayzia Taylor, a resident at the hotel, told WJZY-TV that he got a call Monday from the Days Inn hotel in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood telling him he only had a few hours to move out. The decision caught residents by surprise since some had paid for their rooms in advance.
A video posted on Facebook showed a security guard telling residents hotel management wanted them to quickly clear out of their rooms despite the state’s halt on eviction hearings until June 1.
The state’s Attorney General Josh Stein said in a letter earlier this month that people who live in hotels and motels are included in the eviction measure, and can not be removed from their residences without a court order. The Legal Aid in Charlotte organization sent a copy of Stein’s letter to the hotel, and electricity and water that were shut off Monday night were restored by Tuesday afternoon.
“This is the first time where we’ve seen the hotel just completely shut down the whole hotel,” Isaac Sturgill, a Legal Aid attorney, told the Charlotte Observer. Before this, Strugill said he only saw “piecemeal” scenarios where hotels tried to remove individual residents.
WJZY-TV reported that the Days Inn corporate office sent a statement saying “We’re troubled by how this situation has unfolded. Upon addressing with the hotel’s owner, it’s our understanding that the hotel is now working to assist impacted guests. We continue to monitor the situation closely.”
The statement also noted that the franchise is independently owned and operated, and is required to follow laws and regulations.
A local nonprofit said its organizers fed about 100 of the residents dinner on Monday. Transitioning of the Carolinas Resource Center, which works with the city’s LGBT community, canvassed the city to get them necessities, including water and toilet paper.
“You do not put poor people out regardless, but you definitely don’t do it in these conditions,” said Paris LaBelle, the leader of the nonprofit.