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Written by Community Link intern Blake Allen
Every year Community Link houses thousands of homeless people in Charlotte and around our region. We couldn’t do it, however, without the hundreds of landlords and property managers who partner with us.
Lee Hall is one of those partners. She is the property manager at Aztec Apartments, Located on Eastway Drive just off of Central Avenue. The Aztec Apartment complex is made up of three all-brick buildings that were completed between 1969 and 1974. Lee was a resident of Aztec Apartments for a time, and has been an employee for over twenty years.
“Three years ago, a veteran with poor credit and rental history applied for a lease here,” says Lee. “Normally, these would disqualify a potential resident from renting at our properties. However, he told me he was a client of Community Link. That was the first time I had heard of Community Link. After learning about the program we decided to give it a try.”
Since this first resident three years ago Lee has accepted several other Community Link residents, many with barriers like prior evictions, poor credit, or criminal histories. It makes good business sense, helping her keep vacancy rates low, and also makes her feel good to be part of helping someone experiencing a crisis.
One household in particular stands out for Lee: a mother and her daughter, a disabled veteran.
“This woman was retired and living in Virginia until she moved down here to be with her daughter, who had suffered a neck injury while serving in our military. Up until that point, her daughter had been doing everything right: she had a good job, she was working hard, and even had a house.”
“But,” she went on, “things started going wrong. Her injury got worse to the point that she couldn’t work, which led to her house’s foreclosure, leaving her and her mother to rent motel rooms to stay off the streets. That’s when they turned to Community Link for help.”
Swapping the motel keys they’d grown used to after several months for keys to their new home, this family was given the second chance they desperately needed.
“I just remember that mom saying to me, with tears in her eyes, ‘we have a home.’”
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