Residents of Camelot Village in Chapel Hill who were displaced by Tropical Storm Chantal last month are facing homelessness yet again.
Their hotel stays, funded by Orange County, are set to run out on Aug. 22. Many have nowhere to go, as repairs to their units are far from complete.
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"We are falling through the cracks," said Camelot Village tenant Heather Gibbs. "A majority of people here were elderly, disabled, things like that."
Gibbs, along with 21 other tenants, united through Triangle Tenant Union and have made a list of demands to the landlords of their units. Those demands include being refunded for July rent, since the storm hit on July 6 and the residents have been displaced since then. They are also demanding the return of their security deposits.
WRAL Investigates reported that the flood-prone Camelot Village was among the hardest hit areas in Chapel Hill during Tropical Storm Chantal, sharing residents' harrowing stories of survival.
WRAL Investigates also previously reported that the units are individually owned, and the vast majority are occupied by renters as opposed to the owners themselves.
WRAL asked Orange County if it would consider extending hotel stays. A spokesperson told WRAL Friday afternoon that the stays have been extended several times, and the county will consider doing so again.
Through the property manager, WRAL Investigates asked if landlords would refund July rent. We have not yet heard back.
Emails obtained through an ongoing public records request show that Chapel Hill officials have been aware of concerns with flooding at Camelot Village since at least 2013. WRAL Investigates previously reported that the town has made multiple attempts to purchase flood-prone units at Camelot Village through a FEMA program, but units' owners were not on board.
"There has got to be a solution to this," Gibbs said. "Because it will happen again."
Gibbs, like other residents, wonders about the feasibility of the town diverting water from nearby Bolin Creek away from the units.
A town spokesperson previously told WRAL: "This property is in a floodway and given the geography, this isn’t a feasible option."