New massive effort launched to help get homeless into hotels
LOS ANGELES » To curb the coronavirus spread, Los Angeles has embarked on a massive effort to bring thousands of homeless people off the streets and into hotels to protect them and others from infection.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that money from the federal government would help pay for at least 15,000 hotel rooms during the pandemic. But Los Angeles County, with the state’s largest concentration of homeless people at about 60,000, has set its own goal of 15,000 rooms.
“We’re going big in LA,” said Heidi Marston, interim director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. “We based our goal on what the need is here.”
Marston outlined the effort on Wednesday during the daily coronavirus briefing by county health officials.
Coronavirus is spread by coughs and sneezes. Most infected people have mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and other respiratory problems that can be fatal.
The homeless population is particularly at risk. Many transients already have health problems such as heart disease or diabetes, and they live in conditions that do not permit frequent hand washing and social distancing.
The hotel rooms set aside under the state’s Project Roomkey are reserved for the most vulnerable of the county’s homeless population, Marston said. These include people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions who don’t have symptoms but are at high risk for hospitalization if they contract the virus.
The first hotel opened April 3 in Los Angeles. As of Wednesday, officials had secured 405 rooms at 5 sites across the county, according to Marston, who added that all were likely to be filled by the end of the day.
A total of 1,340 beds at 15 sites are expected to be ready by the end of this week. Thousands more have been identified as potential locations.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday that the number of rooms needs to increase rapidly and encouraged hotel operators to allow the government to lease their rooms.
He also warned “if it requires a more aggressive stance” he has emergency powers to commandeer rooms. “We need to get people into those thousands of rooms today,” Garcetti said.
They’ll be filled first by people from existing shelters that are eager to ease crowding. Meanwhile, teams are going into encampments to find people who meet the criteria.
“People are really scared and they’re trying to do whatever they can to protect themselves,” Marston said. “We see people who are excited to have a safe place to go.”
Outreach workers assist with every step of the process: checking for symptoms, gathering belongings, transporting people and checking them into hotel rooms.
Nurses are onsite to provide twice-a-day health checks. The temporary residents will have round-the-clock security, three meals daily and access to laundry facilities, officials said.