The residents of Mecklenburg County are petitioning to County Commissioners and City Council members to do their elected duty and protect those in our city by opening the Grady Cole Center as a place of refuge for our homeless populations and acknowledging the seriousness behind the epidemic of housing insecurity that is affecting the city of Charlotte.

We are advocating that the Grady Cole Center be opened and operate as a permanent shelter to meet the needs of the community. The city of Charlotte does not need another event space when that space could be used to protect and shelter those who have been forcibly displaced by gentrification, increasing costs of rent, and lack of affordable housing.

In 2018, the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute showed that there are nearly 1,700 people who have been counted as actively homeless with over 29,000 eviction filings being completed in the year. Housing insecurity is an active epidemic and we cannot continue to turn our backs on those who need our compassion.

We demand that needs of the community be acknowledged by the elected officials who are stealing beds away from those that need them.