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L.A. County looking to find permanent housing solutions for Project Roomkey residents

by The AV Times Staff • May 13, 2020

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to find long-term housing for homeless individuals housed temporarily in motels, hotels and elsewhere during the coronavirus outbreak.

“We placed nearly 4,000 medically fragile homeless men and women in temporary housing with more to come,” Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said. “With this motion, we look to the future and ask for a plan to identify and pay for permanent housing for these elderly and sick individuals, many of whom suffer from serious medical conditions. No one wants to see these very frail men and women put back on the streets.”

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said the push to temporarily house vulnerable residents was driven by an unprecedented public-private partnership of city officials, private hotel owners, public sector health care workers, disaster volunteers and community nonprofits.

“There can be no truer test of our values than this collective effort to bring our most vulnerable inside and connect them to long-term stable housing,” he said.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger thanked cities in her district that have stepped up.

“I am proud of Santa Clarita, Palmdale and Lancaster … that have stood tall,” Barger said. “It shows that we can move mountains when we have to.”

Project Roomkey has been the centerpiece of the county’s efforts to move quickly in the face of the pandemic, taking advantage of unused hotel and motels rooms to house the homeless. So far, at least 23 hotel or motel sites have been used to house 1,800 individuals, according to Ridley-Thomas.

The county has also moved to find other spaces to safely isolate and quarantine high-risk homeless individuals, such as those over 65 years old or with underlying health conditions.

Ridley-Thomas said the average age of the homeless people who have been brought indoors to protect them from the coronavirus is 54, noting that many look 15 to 20 years older.

“That’s how harsh homelessness is,” Ridley-Thomas said.

The agreements under Project Roomkey only guarantee housing for three months. Kuehl said the time is right to find longer-term solutions for these vulnerable county residents.

“We have assets to start, coronavirus relief funds, Measure H housing resources, philanthropic partners lining up to help,” Kuehl said. “If we draft a bold plan and commit to it, I believe that the state and the (federal) government will continue to help us, as well.”

The board directed the county CEO and lobbyists to continue to push for federal and state funding. CEO Sachi Hamai said she understood that the latest and fourth coronavirus relief bill — set to go before the House of Representatives — includes additional funding for counties and cities.

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Filed Under: Home, Lancaster, Los Angeles County, Palmdale, Politics

1 comment for "L.A. County looking to find permanent housing solutions for Project Roomkey residents"

  1. Xaivor says

    May 21, 2020 at 12:06 am

    Hello again
    Say what???.
    30 year old plan still being revised
    Execute the instilled plan I Approved 30 years ago.
    There are no hotel owners, every hotel in THIS AREA [ NICK NAME CALIFORNIA]
    was to be implemented in long term housing FOR at risk elderly and peple with at risk immune systems.
    This was not a temporary order, it was to be sustained and those hotels to be staffed according to interim medical need.
    I XAIVOR LEE MCINTOSH,
    PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNER, [ OF THE NICK NAMED CALIFORNIA LAND]
    LAND MANAGER / OWNER
    AND 100 PERCENT OF
    THE HOTELS ON THIS PROPERTY CORPORATE OWNER.
    PLEASE FEEL FREE AT ANYTIME
    TO SUBMIT ANY PROPOSAL TO MY ATTENTION, ON WHEN I AM GOING TO START RECIEVING PAYMENT FOR EACH AND EVERY PROPERTY YOU HAVE OCCUPIED, AT THIS TIME.
    OTHER THAN THAT OF THE PROJECT ROOM KEY, IN WHICH I PERSONALLY APPROVED.
    MCINTOSHXAIVOR@GMAIL.COM
    GOVERNOR AND PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNER CALIFORNIA

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