Get the news that matters to all Californians. Start every week informed.Patient Steven Dombrowski “Cowboy” speaking with Physician assistant Brett Feldman in his hotel room at the L.A. Grand Hotel on Feb. 13, 2023. The hotel was turned into an emergency shelter for unhoused people through Project Roomkey. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight LocalWhen Gov.
That will cost California state and local governments more than $300 million collectively, according to an estimate from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. “Things had changed,” said Robert Fenton, regional administrator for FEMA Region 9, in a phone call with CalMatters. “The vaccine was readily available. Testing was readily available.”
“It’s not new,” he said. “What I’m doing is clarifying the original guidance of the original policy and providing that back to them.”The state sent FEMA a letter last month asking the federal agency to reconsider the 20-day cap. The October letter also made clear that FEMA would not reimburse cities and counties for unoccupied rooms leased through Roomkey. That’s a tough pill to swallow for local officials, who sometimes had empty quarantine rooms as virus transmission rates fluctuated.Sacramento County didn’t limit how long people could stay in its Roomkey hotel rooms, said Kyle Hammon with the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance.
FEMA’s choice to introduce a new rule years after counties spent the Roomkey money is “indefensible,” said Susan Ellenberg, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Her county could lose nearly $16 million thanks to the 20-day rule and FEMA’s refusal to reimburse for vacant rooms.
While the county’s “primary objective” was providing temporary shelter for 386 people at high risk of COVID complications, Osikafo said the continuity provided by motel rooms helped 95 people move on to long-term housing. In 2020, he landed a motel room in the East Bay suburb of Pittsburg through Project Roomkey. Scott lived there for about a year. Having a stable place to live allowed him to hold down a job and buy a car.Now, he works nights as a security guard at a storage facility in Richmond, where he lives in a trailer on the property. During the day, he works for a nonprofit doing outreach at homeless encampments.