Trump federal cuts threaten Roof Above shelter in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte’s main homeless shelter is bracing for a devastating impact from proposed federal cuts, with one-quarter of the agency’s budget being on the line due to President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshape the government. 

Roof Above is the main men’s shelter in Charlotte. It works to get people into permanent housing, and officials are looking at potentially losing hundreds of thousands of dollars per month. 

Cecil Felton remembers 20 years ago when he and others at Roof Above were asked to help paint a then-blank wall that leads to the men’s shelter. He told WCNC Charlotte that he chose some words he felt really mattered. 

“Strength, gratitude, endurance,” he said. “I just came up with the idea to give people rays of hope, a little bit of hope. That’s all they need because everybody pretty much has a lot of good in them.”

Felton’s been getting help from Roof Above on and off for two decades. The agency has nine campuses across Charlotte, providing meals and assistance for people seeking housing. They also offer job resources, serving 1,400 people every day. 

“It’s a place of refuge to get the help you need,” Rashun McDonald said. 

The shelter’s executive director, Liz Clasen-Kelly, says like many other nonprofits, donations are down right now. With Trump’s suggested government cuts, Roof Above could lose 23% of its budget: a whopping $400,000 a month. 

“We are seeing more people coming to us in a housing crisis, so it feels like a team where we’re needing to do more with less resources,” Clasen-Kelly explained. “I definitely want people to be aware that if there is a cut to federal funding, our ability to provide emergency shelter, our ability to provide housing and wrap-around support to folks with disabilities that we’ve been able to move out of homelessness into supportive housing, our ability to provide meals … could all be in jeopardy. Everything is a big unknown right now.”

Clasen-Kelly says with donations down, they’re already having to get creative with the budget.

“We’ve been trying to figure out how to stretch our team to continue to meet the needs that exist in this community,” she said. “We’re working in a time of unknown as well as a time of great demand but we have faith in the way this community shows up for each other.”

It’s a place so many people in the Charlotte community rely on for essentials. 

“It gives me hope that I’ll be able to get out of the streets and being homeless,” Felton said. 

A community donor has offered to help with a big fundraising push that runs through the end of March. Roof Above says the donor is offering to match donations up to $300,000. 

Contact Michelle Boudin at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.