Thousands of homeless people in California this winter could be forced from the hotel rooms they were given by a housing program, which could have severe consequences for the coronavirus situation in the state.
Project Roomkey, which is described as "a collaborative effort by the State, County and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to secure hotel and motel rooms for vulnerable people experiencing homelessness," is facing calls to wind down now that its peak use appears to have passed, but some advocates argue that the program should remain in place.
"It's the worst time to do this," Bob Erlenbusch, head of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, told Politico on Friday. "These are obviously extraordinary times, and it's starting to get cold, it's starting to rain a little bit, then you've got a pandemic raging out of control combined with flu season. And then you're really going to turn people out into that environment? It's just inhumane."
"Could we go longer with the shelters? Sure," said Laura Moreno, social services program manager for Fresno County. "But it doesn't do us any good … because we will not have helped [people] achieve permanency."
Hundreds of homeless encampments have appeared in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and other California cities, and homeless advocates warn that more will likely appear once the state's moratorium on evictions expires in February.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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