STATESVILLE, N.C. — When shelters are full some homeless families risk losing their children.
Channel 9's Brittney Johnson learned some hotels are becoming a safe haven for families fighting to stay together.
Johnson visited Brookwood Inn in Statesville and learned that families are also finding surprising support among one another.
“I’m used to being in a house,” hotel guest Sally Smith told Channel 9.
Smith showed how she makes do in a hotel room these days.
“This is the everything table,” she said, pointing to the desk that serves as a dining table, desk and more.
[SPECIAL SECTION: Affordable Housing Crisis]
The 74-year-old retired nurse said she adopted her granddaughter and great-granddaughter and fell on hard times when she lost her 36-year-old daughter to cancer.
“I’m trying to do the best I can, I'm on Social Security,” she shared.
The hotel room is their home for now.
She and her girls are one of the 25 families with 47 kids who've moved into Brookwood, praying for something more affordable and permanent to open up.
“I had no clue families lived in motels,” said Brookwood Inn manager Denise Sharrow.
Sharrow said she was shocked when she started noticing more families seeking long-term housing there.
“A few evictions, a couple that have come because the home has been condemned, DSS won't let them stay there, divorce, domestic violence, loss of a job, get behind on rent and can't recover,” Sharrow said, listing the reasons families seek shelter there.
She told Channel 9 she asked the owners if she could clean it up and no longer rent to locals who might bring trouble.
“Drugs, prostitution, partying,” she said.
['It's hard': Local mother living in shelter struggles to find housing]
Sharrow said she started seeing more people like Stacey Polson, who is filing for disability and caring for her 18-year-old son, who has autism, on a fixed budget.”
“I’m on the housing waiting list but it's a year to two years waiting list, I've tried everywhere and there's no places to go,” Polson said.
“It’s hard because I've never been in this position before,” hotel guest Romeo said.
She told Eyewitness News the shelters were full and DSS was hours from taking away her two sons, because she had nowhere to live -- so she went to Denise.
“She said you have a house, you can stay here, until I get back on my feet. I came this close to losing my kids,” Romeo said.
Romeo has a job, but she doesn't have money for deposits to secure a new place.
Sharrow said that’s common.
At Statesville’s Brookwood Inn, tenants can pay roughly $265 a week with all utilities included.
For those who can't, sometimes Sharrow raises money through her organization, Acts of Kindness Family Ministry.
It’s not connected to Brookwood, but she uses the money to help struggling families there.
Sharrow shares families stories online, hoping to compel churches and community groups to help.
“They call me and come and say, 'I want to help that single mother.' I reach out and pray, everything that's brought here, comes here by God,” she said.
Sharrow also hosts Bible study and gets community groups to help support holiday dinners and after school snacks for the kids, inspiring a sense of community among motel guests.
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“This is just a lot of people here have made each other family and friends, we're like everybody else, but on hard times,” said Polson.
Polson babysits Romeo's kids, so she can work and Romeo pays Polson, so she can pay for her room.
Others share rides and food.
“I want them to see there is a better way. There is hope. There are people who care,” Sharrow said.
Many of the families never imagined they would ever live at a hotel and while they don't want to be here for long, the support they're getting is giving them hope for a better future.
Sharrow said she is working on creating a financial planning program to help families have financial stability. She is also encouraging some single parents to find housing together.
The Acts of Kindness Family Ministry is raising money to help families obtain and maintain housing and overcome other financial emergencies. Learn more here.