Blog 2: Security - Homeless People Moving Into Hotels

In the discussion of homelessness, a commonly talked about aspect is that of security. Alongside every part of this issue, security of homeless people is a struggle normally, but is furthered in the time of COVID-19. Now more than ever, governments are paying closer attention to the homeless population and how those people could be affecting each other and the people that walk the streets of the city. Because of this, parts of the country have already started to tackle the problem, which is the first step. For example, Los Angeles has decided to take advantage of the emptiness of the world. Due to everything being closed, the city decided to place homeless people in hotel rooms to protect them from the virus.

This effort to prevent a spike in infections of coronavirus has led to the city setting out to move 15,000 members of the homeless population into hotel rooms. As Sarah Dusseault, chairwoman of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's oversight said, "Our thought is that every person who is taken to a hotel room is once less person possibly sick and one less person using hospital resources." In an analysis done by Randall Kuhn, a researcher at UCLA, this motion could prevent over 1,000 hospitalizations and around 350 deaths. Los Angeles is setting an example for other places around the country, with other places in California looking to follow suit. Although there isn't much known to do during this time, this initiative is a great start.



Bibliography
Smith, Doug. L.A. Races to Save 15,000 Homeless People from Coronavirus - One Hotel Room at a Time. Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2020, www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2020-04-18/coronavirus-homeless-hotel-room-lahsa-project-roomkey.

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