MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – The South Seas Hotel in Myrtle Beach is closing for at least this year’s off-season, leaving long-term residents without housing.
Tenants received a message from management at the South Seas Resort late last week telling them they have until Sept. 29 to move out.
People said they were told the hotel is closing because of renovations. A hotel staff member told WMBF News the closing is for renovations to the paint and overall design features until February.
Another person said they were told the hotel may also be sold. There is no confirmation at this time that the hotel was sold.
Those living at South Seas long term said they do not know where they will go next, and they will continue needing housing throughout the winter.
Cats of the Boardwalk President Laurie Petersen said they are working to find resources for the residents.
“This is a rundown area, so they’re needing help,” Petersen said. “They’re needing resources to be able to find new homes. We’re working with a homeless shelter and such in the area to try to get them phone numbers that they can call, people that they reach out to.”
Local homeless shelters, including New Directions, have been contacted for potential housing options and are ready to help anyone losing a place to stay.
“Someone in this situation would come in and work with our case managers to help them transition into a new unit and to find somewhere else stable to go,” New Directions’ Executive Director William Howsare said. “Most of them have less barriers. They’ve been living on their own for a substantial period of time, so it would just be finding a landlord that could work with them.”
Residents can speak with case managers and use the organization’s walk-in shelter.
“They’re more than welcome to come in Monday through Friday between 8 and 4 and just sit, stay out of the elements, use our Internet, take a shower, clean themselves up,” Howsare said.
New Directions will also have emergency sheltering during cold temperatures this winter.
People are not the only ones being displaced from the South Seas Hotel. Petersen said she has known about a large population of cats surrounding the hotel for a while, setting out traps to help spay and neuter or find homes for the animals.
On Friday, Petersen received a call from one of the long-term residents asking for the cats to be rehomed.
“She wanted me to rehouse the cats or relocate them because the hotel was going to be shutting down and the residents have to be out by the 29th of this month,” Petersen said.
A few people living in the building are unable to keep their pets as they look for a new place to stay. Petersen said she has found homes for some of the cats but is still working to find resources and homes for others.
“Most of the cats that we trap in the different areas we go to are feral. They cannot be homed,” Petersen said. “These cats, at least 5 of them, are very sweet cats. Most of the rest are terrified of us. They see us coming now and they kind of scatter and disappear, but there are cats here that don’t belong to the residents but are very deserving of homes.”
Petersen’s group is coordinating with local homeless shelters and organizations to share residents’ phone numbers and resources as they are displaced.
For more information about Cats of the Boardwalk, click here.
Donations can be made at Catsoftheboardwalk.org/donate.
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