Hotel project for homeless phasing out
By the time the federal government had agreed to extend funding indefinitely for California’s Project Roomkey, Marin County had already moved most of the homeless residents in the program out of the hotel rooms where they had been isolating.
County officials said despite the new federal funding agreement, which was announced in December, the county does not plan to bring those homeless residents back into hotel rooms.
Aimed at providing space for the homeless to shelter in isolation during the coronavirus pandemic, the program required participating counties to reapply each month for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which then reimbursed counties for 75% of the cost. The
uncertainty of the federal funding led some counties, including Marin, to pare back or close the hotel program as the pandemic dragged on.
“We would find out the day before the next month started” whether the FEMA applications had been accepted, said Howard Schwartz, a county housing official.
“So there was no way to anticipate when the program would end,” Schwartz said, “and the county was concerned that people would be turned to the streets.”
But last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that FEMA had authorized Project Roomkey reimbursements until the end of the pandemic, and the agency would no longer require California counties to reapply for funding each month.
“We know, and FEMA has now acknowledged, the need for Project Roomkey is greater than ever,” Newsom wrote in a letter to Roomkey providers.
Under the Roomkey program, Marin County has provided hotel rooms for 234 homeless residents, officials said. Now, just seven of them remain in hotel rooms after the county began paring back the program, according to Schwartz.
While some left the hotels without telling county officials where they were going next, 59 of them said they were headed out to live on the streets. Another 60 moved into homeless shelters, while 45 moved into permanent housing and 10 into transitional housing. Four moved into substanceabuse treatment centers or long-term care centers, and 16 said they would be staying temporarily with family or friends, according to county data.
County officials said they are aiming to help others find permanent housing and are planning to use $450,000 in Project Roomkey funding to do so.
“The county remains committed to our housing first philosophy and our goal of moving individuals experiencing homelessness to permanent housing,” said Benita McLaren, director of the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services.
Some could soon move into buildings the county bought this year with funding from the state’s Project Homekey, a spinoff of Roomkey. Those include an office building in San Rafael and a hotel in Corte Madera, which are set to provide a combined 62 apartments for the homeless. Both of the properties will be used as temporary homeless shelters before work gets underway to turn them into permanent housing, according to Schwartz.