Note: This story was updated on Feb. 2, 2023, to correct the number of Budgetel Inn guests identified by District Attorney Coty Wamp as having criminal records.
Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp on Tuesday criticized local agencies providing temporary housing for people with criminal records who were displaced by the closure of the Budgetel Inn last month, according to an email sent to county commissioners.
Wamp included in the email a list of displaced guests that the DA's office found to have criminal records in Hamilton County.
"I am not asking you to act based on this information, I simply think it's important for you, and taxpayers, to see," she wrote to commissioners in the email, which was also forwarded to members of the media. "I also wish that we would focus our resources on the children and placing them in permanent housing, rather than housing criminal offenders."
The East Ridge motel was shut down by court order after a motion filed by Wamp in November called it a nuisance with high rates of crime. The motion cited four known sex offenders living at the Budgetel, in close proximity to children.
Last week, the Chattanooga City Council and Hamilton County Commission voted unanimously to send $50,000 apiece to the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition to continue housing those displaced in other hotels.
In placing people in temporary housing, the coalition has prioritized families with children and people with medical needs, spokeswoman Mackenzie Kelly said in a phone interview Tuesday. The coalition has not taken criminal records into account, Kelly said.
"As a housing-first agency, that does not require that we do a background check," Kelly said. "Once they apply through the (Chattanooga) Housing Authority, there is a background check process."
Wamp, in her Tuesday email, also said she found a WTVC News Channel 9 story on a former Budgetel guest -- a mother to teenage twins -- who died after being displaced "worrisome" because it quoted a known sex offender. The quotes have since been removed from the story, she said.
"It's clearly not appropriate to have a child molester commenting on the 'safe' placement of teenage girls," Wamp wrote in the email.
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Coty Wamp speaks to Assistant Chief Josh Creel, residents of the Budgetel sit in the gallery. The hearing for the Budgetel before Judge Boyd Patterson took place on Dec. 5. (READ MORE: Hamilton County judge says rooms are 'substandard' at Budgetel motel in East Ridge)
Kelly confirmed the mother's death last week but could not offer further details. The twins are students in Hamilton County schools, Kelly said.
Wamp said in an email to the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the woman's death is "not a noteworthy story," saying it had been reported already. What would be noteworthy, she said, is potential outstanding court fines and fees owed to the county by displaced Budgetel guests with criminal records.
"I'd prefer, as a taxpayer, to not be paying for two months of free hotel rooms for child molesters," she wrote Tuesday. "I'd prefer, as a taxpayer, to not be paying for two months of free hotel rooms for adults with extensive criminal histories."
In her email, Wamp suggested Commissioner Joe Graham, R-Lookout Valley, ask the coalition to stop paying for a hotel room for the registered sex offender. Kelly said that to her knowledge, the coalition had not received any such request as of Tuesday evening.
"We do believe that, as a housing-first agency, that everybody does deserve a safe place to sleep at night," Kelly said.
Wamp's letter included an attached roster of 48 displaced Budgetel guests who she said had criminal records, 26 with their names listed and the rest redacted. No details of their criminal background were included.
It was compiled from a list of 115 people staying in rooms paid for by the coalition's fund, much of which was crowdsourced, Wamp said in the email. That list was provided by Joda Thongnopnua, chief of staff for Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. Thongnopnua said that the list was not meant to become public, in the interest of avoiding further distress for those displaced in the shutdown.
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"Many of the individuals highlighted in pink have lengthy histories, and many are felons. Some currently have charges pending in our criminal court system," Wamp wrote.
"As for the dozens of adults that are living in the rooms with the documented individual, we cannot search for their criminal histories because we do not know their names," she wrote. "I do not think it's a stretch to assume that many of them, as well, have Hamilton County criminal histories."
Thongnopnua said the city maintains that housing is a key element of reducing recidivism for people with prior convictions. He said the alternative to providing temporary rooms would be allowing displaced guests to become homeless.
"Having a criminal history in your past, having made a mistake, going through a legal process, does not mean that you ought to end up homeless," Thongnopnua said. "That is counterproductive."
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.
Contact La Shawn Pagán at lpagan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.