Heal Charlotte has launched a capital campaign to raise $10 million to help families impacted by homelessness in the Queen City.
The money would go toward transforming a hotel into an affordable housing campus on Reagan Drive.
“We have a large population of our homeless neighbors that are going through very tough times and hardships,” Greg Jackson, founder of Heal Charlotte, said.
Jackson sees a solution in a Baymont Suites Hotel by the I-85 Sugar Creek Corridor. Heal Charlotte is already leasing the space to house homeless families. Jackson’s goal is to outright own it, and keep men, women, and children from being separated into different shelters.
“There are a lot of families staying in hotels because they cannot get an apartment or they don’t have space in a shelter for them and families are being separated due to the shelter system,” said Jackson.
The hotel has 127 rooms. Jackson envisions combining some of those rooms into apartments, providing transitional housing for 100 families and 2.5 acres dedicated to transitional living.
“It’s not the solution, but it’s a big solution,” Jackson said. “A big help to what’s already provided by the city.
Heal Charlotte is raising its first million of the $10 million campaign. From that total cost, $6.5 million will go towards paying for the hotel, and additional funds will go towards renovations and to programs.
“It’s something that’s a need in this city,” said Jackson, “Affordable housing and safe communities.
You can learn more about Heal Charlotte and donate funds by visiting the agency’s website.
This story is part of I Can’t Afford to Live Here, a collaborative reporting project focused on solutions to the affordable housing crisis in Charlotte.
The Charlotte Journalism Collaborative is supported by the Local Media Project, an initiative launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with support from the Knight Foundation to strengthen and reinvigorate local media ecosystems.
