WAITING FOR A HOME IN CHICO’S MOTELS
CHICO » Left unhoused during the COVID-19 pandemic, some have found refuge in Butte County’s hotels and motels through the aid of California’s Project Roomkey — with many still waiting for a home over six months later.
Since March, Project Roomkey has allowed folks like Mary McCullough to live in a supervised hotel room until housing accommodations can be located using state funds. Organizations like True North Housing Alliance and Safe Space Winter Shelter have workedwith the county to supervise all accommodations.
McCullough, 64, has made the best of her hotel roomat Heritage Inn Express in Chico for comfortable living with her chihuahua mix companion, Christie — adding tapestries and art to the walls and relying on crafts to get through the pandemic.
After losing her home in the Camp Fire and becoming homeless in Oroville, she got help in February from Safe Space Winter Shelter, than came to themotel inMarchwhen Project Roomkey began. McCullough lived in the room with her partner, who she said passed away in May at the age of 63. She has continued living at the motel and had nothing but praise for the help from Safe Space’s team.
“They’re non-judgemental — just amazing,” she said. “I’m just grateful.”
With some health issues, McCullough says she has been thankful to have the room “being able to take a shower, having a bed to sleep in” and to stay safe from
harassment, while also adjusting to living indoors again. She said she wished there were more understanding of the time it takes to find a home and adjust after being homeless.
“Not living in a place, I can understand .. what happens is it takes time to adjust to ( being) inside,” she said. “That survival mode you go into will hopefully go away.”
Kathy Marshall, 60, is also stillwaiting for a place to stay, but has been having despite difficulty as she lives with her 28-year- old son.
“For two people to be in a room… it’s a test; it really is,” she said.
“I think our emotions get a little higher because it’s more fearful. It’s been several months, and it’s time to get into a more proactive state of mind.”
And Marshall added having a room to stay in has helped her and her son adjust, as Safe Space helps them find work as well as a more permanent home.
Safe Space staffer Elliot Maldonado, who began working at the motel with Project Roomkey residents in early May, said he thought the program has been a good approach as some have been able to find homes.
Unfortunately, the program does rely upon the willingness of local property owners to provide any open units they have to get people into more permanent shelter — and a local housing crisis has only worsened in the pandemic. And Maldonado said most who are unsheltered prefer the idea of a room of their own to going back to one of the shelters.
“It’s been pretty hard even for people who have the money … I thought about co-signing before but it’s just hard,” he said. “And I knowpeople that have (cosigned) that work in the program.” He emphasized how many people have lost their living situations and now cannot find any options they could afford.
Getting housed can happen more quickly for some than for others. Ashly Hanson said shewas only living in a Project Roomkey-arranged hotel with her boyfriend for about three weeks until they found a home.
Hanson said before, they had been living on the streets, although she is employed as a certified nursing assistant.
“We just couldn’t get off our feet … and had to spend it to keep a roof over our heads,” she said.
“This Safe Space program has done so much more for us than anyone else has,” she said, saying the program provided meals and arranged rides for her to work as they lived in the hotel.
So when they found housing quickly, “We were very shocked, we didn’t think it was going to happen that fast.” She and her boyfriend plan to stay in Chico.
It isn’t as simple for others, however. Marshall agreed that not only does housing availability stand in the way of finding housing more quickly, a need for roommates that each person is comfortable with is also needed. She said months ago she and her son had hoped there would be more affordable housing if fewer Chico State students stayed in the area.
Now, it seems more likely to “get several people together to rent a four-bedroom” in order to be able to afford an apartment in Chico, she said.
For her, the age of a potential roommate isn’t as important as knowing the roommate beforehand.
“I would have to know that person and have been around them on their good days and bad days,” she said
Marshall added she wishes more people understood how easy it is to become homeless in the area.
“It’s sad because you look around and see people who have been out here a lot longer — Chico seems to be a very proactive town, to me the people are very aware of human issues,” she said. “But it could be, you lost your business, or you had a death in the family … or you got pregnant, and it’s not always drug addiction. It could be so many other things than that.”
Yet there is also a stigma about the “compassion” model Safe Space has pushed for, Maldonado said.
“People think that we want people to be homeless and we want them to continue with their addiction… which is not the case at all,” he said. “I think because our rules might be different — we’re not a religious organization, there’s a lot of young people that work here, we’re a little more understanding of people’s problems instead of judging people.”
“Maybe rich people would view it ( homelessness) as a problem but we’re just trying to help the homeless people that are in this town,” Maldonado added. “Getting rid of them, kicking them out of town or kicking themout of spaces is not really the way to do it. They’re still here.”
While acknowledging that Chico’s City Plaza has had many camping in the park for years, Madonado said, “I know a lot of people hate that and it’s not great, but, where else are they going to go?
“I do go to the plaza a lot with food, and it’s pretty hard. I don’t have enough food for everybody and they’re getting kicked out of there too, and they’re getting kicked out of the parks. We don’t really want them in the parks either, but they don’t have anywhere to go.”
Maldonado said while Project Roomkey tries to find permanent housing for people already referred, he hopes to see a change in the community’s response to homelessness — “More housing solutions, less cracking down on where they’re trying to sleep.”
“It’s understandable people don’t want to see it, but it’s a problem we have in the community and we’re part of the community, so helping is the way to go about it, not trying to not see it,” Maldonado said.
McCullough will bemoving into a home in Chico with a group of others from Project Roomkey within the next month, and is already packing forher next step towards a home. Marshall is still waiting to find a house for herself and her son, but said she may have a job opportunity soon thanks to Safe Space.
Butte County Housing and Homeless Administrator Don Taylor said as of Thursday, 119 FEMA qualified people are in hotels, along with 35 others such as caretakers and children.
“We have successfully placed 85 since the beginning of Project Roomkey,” Taylor said.