As coronavirus spreads, no homeless have been moved into Sacramento motels. What’s the holdup?
It’s been two and a half weeks since Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a plan to move homeless into motels to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but no homeless people have yet received beds in Sacramento County.
Sacramento County officials have identified 221 beds in three hotels for the homeless, but people will likely not start moving in until mid-April, said Eduardo Ameneyro, Sacramento County’s division manager for homeless services.
Meanwhile, other counties across California – including Fresno, Santa Clara, Ventura and San Diego – have moved hundreds of people off the streets and into motels since the governor’s announcement.
“There’s no excuse for it to be this slow,” said Bob Erlenbusch of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. “They should’ve started thinking about this as soon as the governor’s order came.”
Sacramento officials said they are working to include services for the homeless at motel sites – including help on finding permanent housing. Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Chair Phil Serna said the county is working as fast as it can to get vulnerable individuals sheltered, but said it has to be “extraordinarily deliberate” about how it allocates resources.
“In a perfect world we’d be able to do it overnight, but that would be foolish,” Serna said. “This is a juggling act like no other.”
Local officials announced some progress Thursday in their effort to shelter the homeless during the coronavirus crisis. Roughly two dozen trailers were placed at Cal Expo to shelter “at-risk people,” city officials said. More of the camping-style trailers are expected to arrive in the coming days; Sacramento officials expect to eventually receive 63 trailers from the state.
Other California counties have filled beds
Since the governor’s announcement, several other California counties have moved hundreds of homeless people into motel beds. On Saturday, Newsom said the state has secured a total of 7,178 hotel rooms so far. Some of those counties are smaller than Sacramento and have fewer resources.
Fresno County has moved 306 homeless people into motels. The first were given beds on March 18, just three days after the governor’s announcement.
The Bay Area has acted more swiftly as well. In Santa Clara County, 68 homeless people had been moved into beds as of Sunday, including some who had tested positive for the virus, The Mercury News reported. In San Mateo County, 50 people had moved into three hotels as early as March 23, according to KQED.
In Southern California, about 100 people had moved into hotels in Ventura County as of March 24, according to the Ventura County Star. In San Diego, 276 hotel beds were filled as of Wednesday, Voice of San Diego reported.
Homeless staying in the Fresno hotels are given medical services, but are not given help finding permanent housing.
Sacramento County officials said they are trying to avoid that scenario.
“We have to look at three months from now and make sure that for folks we’re placing in hotels we have an exit strategy for them,” Ameneyro said. “It’s my understanding that there’s been a lot of challenges the counties that opened up hotels right away are facing now. We had to take a step back to make sure we had services in place because we knew it would be more difficult to add those later.”
Serna said there has not been a “deliberate or inadvertent lack of focus” contributing to the county’s timeline.
“Just because one county is able to deploy certain resources sooner than others doesn’t necessarily mean that the rest of the jurisdictions ... aren’t doing everything they can as fast as they can,” he said.
What happens next for homeless?
About $4.3 million in state funds are being allocated to Sacramento Steps Forward, a large homeless services nonprofit, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, the city of Sacramento and Sacramento County for the shelter plan.
On Wednesday, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved entering into future hotel lease agreements. The first hotel that will be used is located in an unincorporated area in the northern part of the county, Ameneyro said. He declined to disclose the location or the name of the hotel.
The county will lease the hotel for three months, which could be extended, and is negotiating the rate with the hotel owner, Ameneyro said.
Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors is expected to approve agreements with service providers for the hotel, Ameneyro said. After that vote, homeless can start moving in, but it will likely not be until the week after the vote, Ameneyro said.
After that hotel is full, the county will start the process again with two other hotels it has identified - both in unincorporated areas of the county, one to the east and one to the north, Ameneyro said. Once all hotels are full, it will total 221 rooms.
The motels are a significant piece of a comprehensive plan city and county officials announced last week to shelter 663 homeless people during the coronavirus outbreak. Aside from motels, they also plan to place people in existing shelters, state emergency trailers and apartments.
Officials are also adding beds to existing shelters, which are typically full, but are first making changes so the shelters can handle additional people and follow CDC recommendations, said Janna Haynes, county spokeswoman. Officials plan to add the first 60 beds next week at the North Fifth Shelter in the city’s River District and Mather Community Campus in Rancho Cordova, Haynes said.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has said he wants the number being sheltered to increase from 663 to 1,800 or 2,000 in order to get people indoors as soon as possible.
Serna agreed that more than 663 beds are needed.
“We cannot be satisfied with the number, we have got to continue maximizing capacity,” Serna said. He said the county should collaborate with other governments to more efficiently spend grant money.
More hotels could be added in the future, as additional hotel owners have volunteered to help, Ameneyro said.
Homeless waiting on streets, in cars
Once the county signs an agreement with a service provider, there will be a mechanism for homeless to request a room, Ameneyro said. But until then, they’re in limbo, seeing beds announced in the news, but not knowing how to get one.
Mimi Azad, who sleeps in a vehicle in Roseville with her husband, has been trying to get a hotel room since March 25, when the county announced the 663 beds. On Monday, she emailed The Sacramento Bee trying to find out how to get a bed, and also called the county’s 211 line. The woman who answered the phone told her she did not have any information about rooms, and to try back later. She’s called every day since, but Azad said she still doesn’t have information on a room.
“When you first hear of any news like that, the first response is to run and find out and call to get the information because otherwise you’ll be left out,” said Azad, 55, who’s been homeless for four years. “But then reality is right there to remind you that even though you do all these things, you can’t.”
Daniella Hogan, who sleeps in her Volkswagen Jetta in south Sacramento, has also called the county’s 211 line for help getting a motel room.
“The lady said I knew more about it than she did,” said Hogan, 44. “I’ve been checking to see if there’s been any updates on it and haven’t seen anything. It’s been getting harder and harder to find resources and bathrooms, especially when I’m trying to keep clean.”
Homeless are vulnerable to coronavirus
Homeless individuals are far more susceptible to symptomatic infections because “the accelerated physical decline and mental weathering that frequently results from repeat exposure to harsh elements,” according to a study published last month about the pandemic’s impact on the country’s homeless population.
The study anticipates more than 21,000 homeless people could become hospitalized with the virus nationwide, and that more than 3,400 could die from the disease. The study stated private accommodations would limit the spread of the virus among the homeless.
“The problem lies with the supply and the speed at which options can be mobilized,” reports the study, published by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Los Angeles, and Boston University.
The study estimates that to shelter all homeless residents in Sacramento County, the county would need to create more than 6,000 new beds or units, which would cost nearly $170 million.
The virus is most dangerous for elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. A January 2019 count estimated 5,570 homeless people were living in the county, mostly sleeping outdoors and mostly in the city of Sacramento. About 30 percent of those sleeping outdoors were over age 50. About 20 percent were over 55.
There are so far no known positive cases of the virus in Sacramento County’s homeless population, Haynes said.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
