CAMDEN COUNTY, GA. – Dozens of people in Kingsland are without a home after the city shut down the hotel they were living in on Tuesday.
City Manager Lee Spell said they shut down The Kingsland Hotel Tuesday, because the hotel owners had not paid the water bill since November of last year.
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He mentioned the city wasn’t going to keep allowing this and had to cut the water. Spell said it would have been a violation to keep the hotel open after that.
Thursday morning, News4JAX saw people moving their belongings out of the hotel, while a police officer watched them.
The hotel had trash thrown in different parts and was partially boarded up where there’d been a fire.
News4JAX spoke with one of the people who was moving her stuff out Thursday.
She didn’t want to be identified and said when the hotel was shut down, she and about 30 other people who lived there were told to leave.
Some decided to return Wednesday to get their stuff, but it wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be.
“There’s a bunch of us that ended up going to jail for trespassing,” she said.
The woman said she didn’t spend much time in jail, as a relative bailed her out after a few hours. She said she’s glad for that, but the realization of having nowhere to go is setting in.
“It’s a crappy feeling, like it’s scary,” she said. “You don’t know what you’re doing next. There’s tons of homeless people out here and we’re definitely one of them again.”
And while dozens of people won’t be able to call The Kingsland Hotel home anymore, workers at nearby businesses aren’t too sad it’s closed.
One person told News4JAX off-camera she “won’t miss seeing cops there.”
News4JAX was given the number of the hotel manager, named Jimmy. People who lived at the hotel described him as someone who helped them when they were down.
We asked Jimmy why the water bill wasn’t paid for months.
He said they were working to get the money, and when they finally had enough which was by 4 p.m. Tuesday, the city wouldn’t accept it.
Jimmy also mentioned there were a lot of people who lived at the hotels who didn’t pay their bills on time or at all, which made things more difficult.
Jimmy and the woman who wanted to remain anonymous both said they wished the city would have handled this closing differently. So people like them weren’t scrabbling to find a place to live.
Spell said the city is working closely with Camden County emergency management and other charities to provide resources to those affected.
We were told no one had taken advantage of those services so far.
We also reached out to the owner of the hotel and are waiting to hear back.