Op-Ed: Learning from the pandemic about what works against homelessness

Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring, California was forced to find a way to get people living on the street into shelter as quickly as possible. The successful strategy it employed shows how we can combine urgency with greater resources to deal with our growing homelessness crisis in a post-pandemic world.

Newsom last month announced an additional $62 million for Project Roomkey to keep people in hotels beyond its original Dec. 31 end date and to help fund rehousing services. With the program winding down, the state also launched Project Homekey, which combined $550 million in federal CARES Act stimulus funds with $50 million from the state general fund to create permanent supportive housing, largely in converted hotels.

Technically, participation by local governments in the program was voluntary. But the state and local public health orders served the same purpose as a formal legal requirement that they provide more housing. The orders obligated cities and counties to act with more urgency. Without them, the homelessness problem would surely have been treated like business as usual.

At the same time, we need to create a framework, similar to the coronavirus public health orders, that would provide the urgency around homelessness that the pandemic provided. For example, the state or counties could pass legislation establishing a legal right for unsheltered people to come indoors. The state could also create a requirement that all levels of government attain a reduction in unsheltered homelessness over a reasonable period of time.

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opinion I’ve helped do many people, immigrants, illegal and legal , all they need is the craziness to stop for 3 months, give them shelter, food, clothes , medications, and a good job application with an address, with just these simple things,,75% make it

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