76 Stockton hotel rooms to house homeless during COVID-19 pandemic
STOCKTON — In an effort to protect the county’s homeless population from possible exposure to the coronavirus, many will be allowed to stay at a Stockton Motel 6 for at least a month.
The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an emergency occupancy agreement with G6 Hospitality Property LLC and increased its 2019-2020 Project Roomkey budget by nearly $800,000.
G6 Hospitality Property LLC manages the Motel 6 located at 817 Navy Drive in Stockton, where as many as 76 rooms will be made available for the county’s homeless, according to Adam Cheshire, the county’s Program Administrator for Homeless Initiatives.
The homeless selected to stay at the hotel will be housed from May 5 to June 30, according to the agreement. The total cost of housing the homeless is $798,418.
There are currently 414 homeless individuals being considered for selection, ranging from 55 to 92 years of age, he said.
Cheshire said he is asking city managers in Lodi, Manteca and Tracy to identify homeless individuals on that list who may be at a high risk of exposure to COVID-19 so they can be considered for a room.
“We should be able to pull a few folks, at least a few from the outer communities, into Project Roomkey,” he said. “With a capacity of 76, I don’t think there’s any doubt that we can get everybody involved to get this location filled up very quickly.”
Most of the rooms will house one homeless individual, Cheshire said. But couples selected may be allowed to room together, he said.
Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom implemented Project Roomkey, which will provide housing options for the homeless, protect human life, and minimize strain on health care system capacity.
According to statewide data presented at Tuesday’s
meeting, homeless populations are more likely to use hospital emergency rooms, sometimes making up to 20 to 30% of all adult emergency room visits.
In addition, homeless individuals are admitted to inpatient units five times more often and have average lengths of stay that are longer than individuals with stable housing, according to staff.
Project Roomkey is designed to benefit individuals who are asymptomatic but are at high risk, such as people over 65 or who have certain underlying health conditions; individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19 who do not require hospitalization, but need isolation or quarantine; and individuals who are COVID-19 positive, but do not need hospitalization.
Cheshire said that as of Tuesday no homeless individual had been identified as testing positive for COVID-19, although he admitted that there has not been a lot of testing for that population.
Chris Woods, the county’s Human Services Agency director, said placing homeless individuals in the hotel is not going to solve homelessness in San Joaquin County.
“This is really to provide that isolation capacity to protect them and protect the health care system from a surge,” he said. “Realistically, these individuals will be going back to their previous situation.”
Woods added the project is being funded completely by Senate Bill 89, which established emergency legislation and funding to help California fight COVID-19. It also included support to local governments to protect the health and safety of homeless populations and to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by providing isolation capacity for homeless individuals.
“My hope is that we learn a lot from this process,” board chair Kathy Miller said. “We may develop insight as to how an ongoing program could develop partnerships. It’s been very difficult and complicated, and I look forward to regular updates once this program is up next week.”