KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — WCNC Charlotte is putting a face to the affordable housing crisis.
Rachel Mills, her husband, and their three kids are living in a van this holiday season after getting evicted and not having anywhere else to go.
Despite Mills having a job, they aren’t able to make rent due to the rising costs and have been met with silence.
The Mills' "home" is now a red van in a Kings Mountain parking lot. They've been living in their vehicle since September.
“Everybody’s in everybody’s space," Mills said. “I feel like a failure, I’ve never let my kids down like this."
These days, Mills feels a sense of hopelessness. She says the homeless shelters are full and she's made several calls to housing resources which have gone unanswered.
“I’ve looked, I’ve searched, to get nowhere, it’s frustrating… I mean what do you do?” she questioned.
Across the Charlotte region, there are more people in need of emergency housing than there are beds for them to sleep in and as homes and rental prices remain high, homelessness continues to be a challenge.
“Housing is really a building block; it is the basic need that needs to be met in order for individuals to be stable enough," Melanie Lowrance, the Special Projects Administrator with Gaston County Community Support Services, said.
Stability is what Mills wants.
“They’ve spent their birthdays in this van, my daughter’s is next month, and I’ll be damned, I don’t want to do it again in a van, I don’t want to spend Christmas in a van, it’s hard," Mills said.
She's hoping hard work and a little bit of help will provide her family with a better future.
Gaston County is also accepting donations through a QR Code on their Facebook page.
Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
