Statewide Effort to House Homeless in Hotel Rooms Meets Successes and Challenges
Rectangles are painted on the ground to encourage homeless people to keep social distancing at a city-sanctioned homeless encampment across from City Hall in San Francisco, California, on May 22, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. (JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)
In early April, Governor Newsom launched Project Roomkey, a temporary program designed to protect vulnerable homeless populations from Covid-19 by housing them in empty hotel rooms. The state has since placed more than 10,000 homeless residents in rooms, and officials are considering ways to make the program permanent. But long-term funding for Project Roomkey is uncertain, and some local communities are resisting. We'll assess the program and its future.
Erin Baldassari, affordable housing reporter, KQED News
Tomiquia Moss, founder and chief executive, All Home
Kerry Abbott, director, Office of Homeless Care and Coordination for Alameda County
Adam Christiansen, was living on the street in Novato; now living in Project Roomkey-supplied housing