Mecklenburg County is spending $10.5 million to buy a hotel in southwest Charlotte that will provide housing and social and health services for people who are chronically homeless.
County Commissioners this week approved the purchase, though did not discuss plans for its use. A county spokesperson confirmed the property, the TownePlace Suites by Marriott Charlotte Arrowood, will be used for permanent supportive housing, but provided no further details.
The purchase price includes acquisition and improvements, Board Chair George Dunlap said. The 94-room hotel is near Interstate 77 on Forest Point Boulevard.
Creating affordable housing for people with the lowest incomes is among the biggest challenges for local governments and nonprofits. There is a particularly great need for more permanent supportive housing, leaders say, which provides services like case management and medical care for people who are chronically homeless.
Hotel purchases for affordable housing is among the recommendations laid out in the 2025 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing and Homelessness Strategy, which launched last year.
That strategy calls for creating “hotel/motel acquisition strategies for permanent supportive housing and mixed-income housing between 30-60%” of the area median income. That is between $22,750 and $40,440 for an individual.
Purchasing a hotel is a new type of housing investment for Mecklenburg County, but the concept has been under consideration for some time.
Read more at The Charlotte Observer
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.