SAN JOSE, California >> Since the coronavirus pandemic began, the Bay Area has displaced thousands of homeless residents from the streets, from unsafe living situations and to hotels and shelters for make-shift.
But six months into the pandemic, as some temporary programs begin to close, officials, non-profit organizations and the people they shelter have one hit with the question: What happens now?
“We feel really lucky to be able to bring so many people inside, and of course no one wants to see us have to take people out to the streets,” said Kerry Abbott, director of Alameda County’s Office of Homeless Care and Coordination. “And we just work as hard as we can and as hard as we can to try to prevent that.”
Officials shudder to get new housing approved and built at unusual speeds. They are appealing to private landlords to house homeless residents with subsidized rent. And they are in a hurry to sign deals to buy hotels and apartment buildings before the state’s fastest upcoming deadline comes.
But officials say there is not yet enough housing in the pipeline – or enough funding to build it – for everyone in the temporary shelters. San Francisco, Santa Clara and Alameda counties – which together have preferred the region’s homelessness crisis – have more than 4,000 people living in pandemic hotels, shelters and trailers. Thousands more remain on streets and in pre-pandemic shelters.
“The short answer is that we do not have enough housing, as we all know,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said earlier this week at the groundbreaking job of a 108-bed interim housing project on Evans Lane. “We have to keep pushing.”
As of Monday, Alameda County had more than 700 households in pandemic shelters, the majority in hotel rooms reserved for people for whom COVID-19 has a large format. Eventually, the federal money that these rooms fund will dry up, and the hotel owners will want to welcome tourists. In preparation, the province had moved 108 people from hotels to permanent housing since last week, and plans to place about 300 in the coming months.
Provincial officials also expect to submit state funding applications to build three hotels in long-term housing. Last month, Govin Newsom made $ 600 million available through Project Homekey – including about $ 100 million for cities and counties in the Bay Area to buy and convert hotels, apartments and other buildings into homes. The first deadline to apply is Friday midnight.
The state has already received preliminary paperwork for at least 97 potential projects – including 15 in the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, nonprofit Abode Services, which operates pandemic hotels in Santa Clara and Alameda counties, is expanding funding to move residents into privately owned apartments. Abode will subsidize her hair for two years.
In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed recently announced plans to add 1,500 new units of permanent supportive housing over the next two years – the largest increase in two decades.
But Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the San Francisco-based homeless coalition, worries that some people staying in hotels will fall through the cracks, especially if they have to compete for housing with people who are newly homeless are as a result of the pandemic.
“I think there is an opportunity to do good,” Friedenbach said. “I think there’s a huge potential for failure.”
Terry Hammer worries him too. A 65-year-old homeless Vietnam veteran, Hammer landed at a Milpitas motel about six weeks ago because his age makes him more likely to develop severe symptoms when he catches COVID-19.
Homeless for two years, Hammer recently slept on St. James Park in downtown San Jose. The weeks he spent in the motel have been a much welcomed extension of life outside – he has three meals a day, hot showers and a TV. Getting back to the park would be tricky.
But he said so far, no one has talked to him about more permanent housing.
‘I ask her more and more because I’m trying to make some plans,’ said Hammer, referring to staff at the hotel. ‘They said we’ll probably be here by Christmas, but they do not know. They are kind of advice. But otherwise my plan will be, I think, to go back to the sidewalk. ‘
The Evans Lane project that broke ground in San Jose earlier this week is intended to help people leaving hotels and temporary COVID shelters – families will stay there while caseworkers connect with permanent housing. The site, expected to be ready by the end of September, is one of three such projects. Together, they will house more than 300 people in modular, thin home-style units.
Speed is key, officials said, as the clock ticks. Two of the temporary shelters set up in San Jose to house people during the pandemic – Bascom Community Center and Parkside Hall Convention Center – are scheduled to close on Saturday, displacing more than 100 people. The Camden Community Center, which houses about 30 families, is also set to close soon, but a date has not yet been set.
And while it’s boosting other amenities, San Jose is adding about 85 beds to its temporary shelter at the South Hall convention, which will be open at least until December.
“We’ll figure out a way,” said Kelly Hemphill, San Jose’s homelessness response manager. “Going back to homelessness will not be an option.”
