The Velasquez family
Sandra Velasquez’s autoimmune disorder flaring up is what got her family evicted from their apartment in San Francisco nearly a year ago: She was hospitalized and missed too many paychecks from her restaurant cashier job. Now it’s what keeps them penned in their room at the only hotel the city has leased for homeless families who need private space because of vulnerabilities to the coronavirus.
If the disease creeps into her body, it could mean death for the 38yearold immunocompromised mother. So, at the end of April, after months in a crowded local shelter with her daughter Angeline, 2, and son Javier, 13, Velasquez moved her family into their hotel room.
The days typically whip by, with Javier doing schoolwork on his computer, Angeline watching PAW Patrol or playing with her dolly, Belle, and Sandra looking online for housing. Her job is on hold, the restaurant closed by the shutdown, so she doesn’t have to go out. Food is delivered by the city to the 35 families in the hotel to help them stay isolated.
“Sometimes it’s hard, but you can’t really show it,” Velasquez said. “You have to be strong for the kids. And most of the time, I really appreciate that I’m getting more time with them than I’ve had in many years.”
Her plan: Stay as long as the city will let her. Hope her job gets reinstated. Get a new apartment. Hope there’s a vaccine for the coronavirus.
The thought of going back to shelter cots while the disease is rampant is terrifying.
“So many families cry when we show them their rooms here,” said Rina Castillo, the family’s case manager from Catholic Charities, which is overseeing the hotel. “And then the first question we get is, ‘How long can we stay here?’ I mean, it’s worse out there now. With the coronavirus, it’s scarier.”