LOS ANGELES — Only about half of the 15,000 hotel and motel rooms that California has leased for mostly homeless people to slow the spread of the coronavirus are now occupied, it was reported May 19.
Project Roomkey is largely funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has vowed to reimburse the state and individual counties for 75% of the cost of leasing hotel rooms and providing services.
The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously May 12 to find long-term housing for homeless individuals housed temporarily in motels, hotels and elsewhere during the coronavirus outbreak.
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.
In April, the Norwalk City Council passed an emergency moratorium seeking to block the county from converting properties into temporary housing for the homeless without the city’s approval.
