When Columbus tore down encampments built by unhoused people last December, a community group that works to find housing for people put them up in a hotel.
But that hotel, Loyalty Inn, located at 5910 Scarborough Blvd., had a documented history of fire code violations and violent crime, according to the Columbus City Attorney's Office.
As a result, the city moved to shut it down.
The 30 people who remained were forced out of the hotel this past weekend, weeks before the funding for the temporary shelter was slated to end.
"I don't know where the hell I'm gonna go," said 82-year-old Trent. "You know, I've been here about three months. I thought I was gonna be here till the end of March, and I got a guy come to my door this morning, and gave me a quick warning that I had to be out of here."
Trent's been homeless for a year. He worked for decades in the construction industry and retired during the 2008 housing crisis. But last year, he lost his apartment and then his car.
He and a few dozen other people came to stay in the Loyalty Inn just off the Interstate 70 Brice Road exit.
"I never realized someone homeless went through a life like this. I've never experienced anything like this before. I've had a rough year. It's been a nightmare," Trent said.
The Community Shelter Board was paying $50 a night for each room, and planned to cover the rooms through March.
But the Columbus City Attorney's Office under Zach Klein took the owners of the building to court. Klein's spokesman Pete Shipley said owners that took over the hotel in 2023 weren't following a 2021 permanent injunction granted by the Franklin County Environmental Court after the property was declared a public nuisance.
Shipley said the police had been called to the hotel about 100 times in the last year and 17 fire code violations were found in the latest inspection. Shipley also said city officials tried to avoid a closure by working with the property's owners, Newlite Hotels, but Shipley said the owners didn’t comply with the orders.
Shipley said the city reached an agreement with Newlite to close the hotel to make repairs and increase security. WOSU has reached out to Newlite's attorney and have not yet received a response.
Michelle Bledsoe said while she was living in the hotel, conditions were not great.
"Couldn't get toilet paper. Couldn't find housekeeping. Our room has a hole between both bathrooms. The connecting room behind us, there's like a hole in our wall, and I've had to put a towel in it, which has grown black mold," Bledsoe said.
Emily Myers with Heer to Stay, a volunteer community support group, said the problems with the location were known, even before this group was housed there in December.
"It was not up to code then, and everybody was aware of it," she said.
Steve Skovensky, of the Community Shelter Board, said the Loyalty Inn was the only affordable hotel they could find that would also allow pets.
WOSU has asked the Community Shelter Board how much it cost to house the people there, but has not received that information.
Myers said police came to the hotel around noon on Saturday and told people to leave. She said about 1/3 still didn't know where to go, and didn't have a way to transport their belongings or pets.
Shipley said it was the hotel's idea to close on March 15, instead of at the end of the month, and that the people living there were offered space in a community shelter and a bus card.
But many of the residents have pets, and the community shelter doesn’t allow pets. The residents were told their pets would be housed at the Franklin County Animal Shelter, but they didn’t want to be separated from them.
Some people living at the hotel say they've had bad experiences in homeless shelters, like Rheta McConaha.
"I'm one of the ones that's very against shelters. I, at one time, I tried to go to a shelter. That lasted one night because a girl tried to attack me. I'm not willing to live in that kind of environment, you know," she said.
She isn't sure where to go, and doesn't want to separate from her cat, which she says is an emotional support animal.
"Do we try to go out and live off the land again and worry about, you know, cops showing up and running us off there? Where we're going to lay our head tonight, we have no clue," McConaha said.
Skovensky said the affordable housing crisis is making it even more difficult to find places for people, and it's only expected to get worse in Columbus.
"If there were more affordable housing options, we wouldn't be struggling to find temporary shelter locations. We know unsheltered homelessness is expected to increase by 68% over the next three years," he said.
Michael Wilkos with United Way agrees. He sat with people at the hotel Friday as they waited for information.
Wilkos said Columbus hasn't been building enough housing to keep up with its rising population.
"When it comes to people who really struggle who are economically vulnerable, there is literally no housing for them to go to anymore," he said.
To top it off, new data shows rents are rising the most in low-income neighborhoods, Wilkos said.
Wilkos, and the affected people WOSU spoke to, said one of the worst parts about the process has been a lack of communication and coordination from officials and providers.
"I've been told by a couple people who live here that they, in fact, do intend to live inside 10-by-15 square foot storage units as their next place of residence. I believe any city should be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable people, and today is an example of how the most vulnerable are falling through the cracks," Wilkos said.
Myers said it will be even more difficult for the people to find permanent shelter, now that it will be harder for providers to get in contact with them.
"This is ridiculous to treat people this way and CSB knows that, in my opinion. There's zero service providers here (on Friday). This will effectively disenfranchise folks from future housing by scattering them with no ability to consistently contact their housing case managers," Myers said.
Trent had one thing to say to city officials: "Don't give up on the homeless."
Wilkos said the situation has taught him about the cracks in the system.
He said there could have and should have been a more concerted, coordinated effort between every office involved to help unhoused people, instead of forcing them out with only a day or two of notice, without providers to link people to services.
