Pasadena Hotels, Motels Could Be Used to House Homeless during Pandemic

City officials are working with local hotel and motel owners to house homeless people as the city combats the Coronavirus outbreak.

Last Monday the Pasadena City County approved a staff recommendation to authorize the City Manager to enter into a contract with the state’s Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency (BCSH) for emergency funding to protect the health and safety of people experiencing homelessness and reduce the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The city will receive a $105,625.89 grant, according to a city staff report.

According to city spokesperson Lisa Dederian, the grant could be used for quarantine and isolation units for homeless.

“We have not moved any sick person into a motel or hotel.  The hotels and motels we are working with have agreed to take highly vulnerable people, but not sick people.”

According to the results of the city’s homeless county, 542 people experience homelessness on any given night in Pasadena. According to one study, more than six times that many homeless people could die if the spread of the virus is not bought under control.

According researchers at universities in Los Angeles, Pennsylvania and Boston, 3,400 people experiencing homelessness could die from COVID-19, including 1,200 people living on the streets and in shelters in California.

There are more than 150,000 homeless people in California.Gov. Gavin Newsom has started Project Roomkey, a statewide initiative to secure 15,000 hotel and motel rooms for some of the state’s 151,000 residents experiencing homelessness.

Los Angeles County, home to the largest unsheltered population in the state, set its own goal of obtaining an additional 15,000 rooms for some of the 60,000 people living on its streets, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

So far at least 25 homeless people have died as a result of Cornoavirus infections. Officials say that number could be an undercount.

“As a humanitarian issue and to protect emergency room resources, it is essential that we do everything we can to help homeless people find safety,” said study co-author Randall Kuhn, an associate professor of community health sciences at the University of California-Los Angeles’ Fielding School of Public Health.

In Pasadena, “the funding is intended for COVID-19 prevention and containment efforts for temporary shelters, including, but not limited to, medically indicated services and supplies, such as

testing and handwashing stations, and enhancements to existing shelter facilities,” according to a city staff report.

The funding can also be used for acquiring new shelters, supplies and equipment for emergency shelter operations, increasing shelter capacity, street outreach, and acquiring locations to place individuals who need to be isolated because of COVID-19 illness or exposure.