CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - It was the week of Thanksgiving in 2024 when Shauntel Gaines got the final notice: She and her son were being evicted.

“One that I didn’t deserve,” Gaines said through tears.

An army veteran who had come to Charlotte fleeing domestic violence, Gaines had struggled to make ends meet ever since leaving an abusive relationship.

But this eviction made no sense. The veterans housing company that had gotten her the apartment and served as her lease guarantor had just received thousands of dollars of donations earmarked for Gaines’ housing aid.

Gaines herself had just sent this company hundreds of dollars for rent – the company that was then supposed to pay the landlord.

Yet the landlord said thousands of dollars were owed.

A monthslong WBTV investigation into that

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