ROCK HILL, N.C. – The city of Rock Hill wants to crack down on people using hotels as long-term housing. City Officials say the pattern of living in hotels and motels is leading to a public safety risk. City officials say they’ve been dealing with a lot of crime coming from hotels that has led to increased police, fire, and EMS calls for service. Last year, City Council asked city staff to take a closer look at what could be done about the public safety concerns at hotels on Riverview Road. Officials say there have been calls for drug overdoses and prostitution at some of these facilities. Officials say the biggest problems are happening at hotels with exterior doors which are the older motel style and typically the lowest rates. Right now, the current regulations prohibit people from living in a hotel for more than 30 days with a few exceptions. City staff recommend banning locals from renting hotel rooms with exterior doors to cut down on crime, but there’s a concern about how it would impact people who cant afford other housing. “We also have observed a high number of locals using the hotels as housing. Code enforcement is here they did a count of those over the summer,” Leah Youngblood, from Rock Hill City Planning said. “The school buses run the River View route. Unfortunately, there are a lot of children in these living situations most of the police related issues are caused by local people.” Twenty people signed up to speak against changing the hotel rental policy at the planning commission meeting Tuesday night. Some homeless advocacy organizations say they were not included in the plan to revise the hotel policy and there could be a significant impact if the rules are changed. “At this time there’s not enough shelter availability or funding to be able to accommodate the people who are relying on hotel and motels for longer term stays because they can’t access housing elsewhere,” Melissa Carlyle, with Catawba Area Coalition for the Homeless said. The majority of the people who spoke against the policy change are hotel or motel owners who say they are willing to work with the city, but this current proposal goes too far. “We’ve got problems but let’s solve it together,” Dillip Patel Microtel Owner said. “There’s a way to do it, but the way this is being railroaded in, it should be thought out before it goes to city council.” No one signed up to speak in favor of the change. The planning commission asked city staff to work with homeless advocacy groups and hotel owners to come up with a solution that would be more favorable. There’s no timeline on when that might happen.