100 Homeless Staying in Pasadena Hotels and Motels

The city of Pasadena says 100 homeless people are living in hotel and motel rooms as part of Project Roomkey, a program started by the state of California to secure accommodations for vulnerable people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

City Housing Manager Bill Huang says about 20 percent of the city’s homeless population is taking advantage of the program. “I believe 30 to 40 moved out of the shelter (Union Station) into motel rooms because they were in the vulnerable demographic of being elderly or have underlying health conditions.”

Huang says the number of rooms the city has leased is hovering around 110, so “we are just about at our max.”

The locations of the four hotels and motels being used have not been disclosed.

At the county and state level, FEMA has said it will reimburse Project Roomkey costs up to 75 percent, but Huang says Pasadena is using state and federal homelessness dollars already earmarked to help fight homelessness.

“We’ve budgeted several hundred thousand dollars,” Huang said, adding that the money is not just for rooms. “Also meals, laundry, case management services, security … so far it’s been very effective, folks have been safe, it seems to be potentially working very well.”

He says the city has placed eleven handwashing stations in areas where there are known homeless populations, passed out hundreds of hygiene kits and, in addition to the year-round shower program available at the Jackie Robinson Community Center, operates a mobile shower unit three days a week.

When Project Roomkey will end will be determined by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order, but Huang says he doesn’t expect the program to go on for months and months.

A Union Station Homeless Services email to Pasadena Now said, “The rooms will be temporarily occupied for 90 days from the site’s opening date. The goal is to connect residents with permanent, affordable housing.”

Anthony Manousos, co-founder of Making Housing and Community Happen, says another 150 to 200 people are still living on Pasadena streets instead of in Project Roomkey hotels and motels.

“We’re grateful to what we have but we want to see more. One of the things that we’re advocating for is we would like to see the city partner with an affordable housing developer to purchase a motel for permanent supportive housing.”

Huang says Pasadena has taken measures aimed at homelessness prevention. “The city passed an eviction moratorium and we’re working on a back rent assistance program. Hopefully that will help to prevent folks that have been financially impacted, help them to stay in their homes and not become homeless.”

Huang emphasized Project Roomkey, which was supposed to secure 15,000 hotel and motel rooms for some of the state’s 151,000 residents experiencing homelessness, is not for people who have Coronavirus. And he says none of the homeless people participating in the program has tested positive for COVID-19.

“Other homeless individuals, there have been a handful here in Pasadena, either have tested positive or needed to be tested because it appeared they might have COVID,” Huang said.

Union Station Homeless Services claims “All residents and staff undergo health-screenings (by an on-site Registered Nurse and a Certified Nurse’s Assistant) three times daily, 7 days a week.”