The pandemic has seriously affected the plight of the homeless across America as cities try to deal with COVID-19 safety guidelines among those living on the streets or in shelters.
In these situations, social distancing and hygiene are hard to enforce, and many cities are buying up unused hotel rooms, vacant apartments, and other facilities to try and help the homeless.
But, according to Axios, some areas are dismayed over the growing number of outdoor encampments the homeless have been forced to set up. With the cold weather approaching and the number of cases rising, healthcare experts are concerned that their efforts to assist the homeless according to interim guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will be even more challenging.
“The hotel industry has been hit really hard by the coronavirus — there’s a lot of empty rooms — and in a lot of communities, hotel owners are making deals with city officials,” said Steve Berg, of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, according to Axios. Berg said that Congress also made money available through the CARES Act to help bring people inside were they have access to shelter and hygienic facilities.
“The limitation, though, is obvious,” he wrote in an article in September. “These measures are temporary. At some point the virus will be under control and hotel owners will want to go back to renting rooms for more money to their typical clientele. The prospect of thousands of older people with disabilities returning to the streets is imminent.”
According to Axios, San Diego started Operation Shelter to Home last spring, housing people who were homeless in the San Diego Convention Center to help contain COVID-19. Some have been put into permanent housing, a solution that all experts agree should be the long-term goal.
“It’s not enough to keep people off the streets for a night or a week, but how do we get them into that place of their own for good?” asked San Diego Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer. Meanwhile, Los Angeles tried to ban encampments of homeless people outdoors, a move that was shot down by critics who said the proposal was tantamount to “criminalizing homelessness, according to Axios.
Experts worry that the winter months will bring a surge of evictions that will generate more homelessness.
“A permanent solution, in the form of housing, has to be on the table,” said Berg. “We can’t go back to the old normal.”