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[NEW] In my first #housing story for @USATODAY we took a deep dive into how cities across the U.S., has been housing people experiencing #homelessness in motel and hotels with money officials received from the #CARES Act. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/12/15/covid-relief-package-ends-homeless-people-face-eviction-hotels/6349269002/
The federal measure allocated $150 billion in direct assistance to municipalities for expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency and an additional $4 billion nationwide to shelter the #homeless.
Now, the money is gone and Dec. 31 deadline is around the corner amid growing complaints over costly hotel shelter programs, many city officials are considering putting homeless people back on the streets or in crowded shelters, just as the pandemic is hitting new deadly records.
Nearly half of them—around 40 percent—are Black and already at higher risk of dying from the coronavirus. Here are some of the people I talked to and learned from:
This is Tyree Leslie, a San Francisco teacher of “exceptional learners” who is experiencing homelessness for the first time. He said being in a hotel room has allowed him to prioritize his mental health.
One of the things he showed me is how he’s made a life vision board in his room.
Christa Gillette a 60-year-old legal secretary and her 16-month-old dog, Shepherd have riding out the pandemic in a hotel. She's now in a wheelchair after fracturing her ankle. She leaves the hotel sparingly, like when she buried her nephew who died from COVID at the age of 40.
A vote is set in #SanFrancisco today to delay the deadline to relocate the homeless until February.
In Alaska, officials got into hot water after saying they would purchase three hotel buildings to house the homeless. Residents pushed back, saying the new properties would drive down property values and increase crime. After a back-and-forth the federal government acquiesced.
And in New York City we heard from the men of the Lucerne Hotel in the Upper West Side who were granted an interim stay by Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court.
There I met, @shamsdabaron AKA "Da Homeless Hero." Watch this mini-doc we made with @jaspercolt https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2020/12/14/shams-dabaron-homeless-hero-housing-hero/6540910002/
"They didn't want us where we came from, they don't want us here and they don't want us where we're going," said @shamsdabaron. "This isn't about #homelessness as much as it's about the inequities that exist in all fabrics of society. Something is wrong with this picture."
