Residents move back into apartment complex months after flooding caused by pipe burst

CHARLOTTE — More than 30 residents are back in their apartment complex after being asked to leave last Christmas after a burst pipe caused flooding.

Community organizations can now breathe a sigh of relief on Saturday after spending months finding ways to keep local seniors from becoming homeless.

Virginia Blackmon was one of the 33 residents who were able to move back into the Magnolia Garden apartments on Beatties Ford Road. She, like many other residents, waited nine long months for repairs to be completed.

“We have all been out of here since Christmas afternoon; it was traumatic; it was bad,” Blackmon said.

A local group that jumped into action to help the displaced residents was Champion House of Care, located in northeast Charlotte.

“Keep the seniors in hotels without letting them be homeless, making sure the seniors had food and clothes and their medicine, going to the doctor,” Janette Kinard, president of Champion House of Care, said.

For several months, many of the residents had to live in motels, and a few chose to take their frustrations to property management. But on Saturday, their frustration stemmed from the usual trouble associated with moving. Like Jerry and Barbara Nance, who have been living in the complex since August 2021.

“Moving is still a pain,” Jerry Nance said, “but I’m glad that I had the kids to help me out.”

“It didn’t give me any pain,” Barbara Nance said. “I did everything for me and my children, and he’s a man; he’s supposed to do it.”

House of Care is currently working with four more families to move them back into the complex; they have until Monday to get that done

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