FEATURE

by Kimberly Rivers

kimberly@vcreporter.com

As we continue to work though this historical moment, holes in the social safety are becoming both more obvious, and wider. How will the response of our local leaders and public agencies be judged from a future vantage point? Did we do all we could to help those who need it the most?

Among those most in need are people without secure housing. The Ventura County Homeless Point in Time count for Jan. 29, 2020, identified 1,743 adults and children. Of those individuals, 34.5 percent (about 430 people) reported having chronic health conditions which could make them more vulnerable to serious illness or death from COVID-19.

While the coronavirus pandemic has not created the homeless crisis, it has surely amplified it, compelling officials at the state and local levels to provide a remedy.

One remedy created by the state of California was Project Roomkey, focused on providing immediate housing to those within the homeless population that were most at risk of contracting and becoming ill from the coronavirus. Gov. Gavin Newsom set a high goal of housing 15,000 homeless people quickly, mostly at hotels and motels across the state.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorized reimbursement funding, administered through state governments, to counties and cities for housing vulnerable individuals: those who test positive for the virus but do not require hospitalization, isolation or quarantine; individuals who have confirmed exposure to the virus; and people who are high risk but asymptomatic, such as those over 65 with underlying chronic illness.

“No one stands taller than those leaders that bend down on one knee to help lift other people up,” said Newsom on April 18, 2020, during a live press conference introducing Project Roomkey’s implementation. “Consider the moment we’re in and the ethical question you’re being called and asked upon. Consider your station in life and in history. All of us will be judged. Homeless individuals are members of our community . . . and I hope we’ll consider their lot and their future as well.”

“We had over 350 in Project Roomkey over a three-month period. We had 350 rooms for the high-risk population,” said Tara Carruth with the Ventura County CEO’s office who manages Homeless Grants, Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) and Continuum of Care. The Vagabond hotel locations in Oxnard and Ventura, the Motel 6 in Newbury Park and the Best Western in Ventura were the hotels participating in Project Roomkey. “There were other rooms secured for medical sheltering of COVID and exposed patients (housed and unhoused persons).”

Those housed in motels and hotels were identified through community service providers.

“Many people left the project during various times, some for successful placements and others because they chose to leave or they were asked to leave because they violated safety rules during their stay,” Carruth explained.

When operations ended on June 30, Carruth said that “over 160 people were successfully discharged . . . to temporary or permanent placements.” Those placements included permanent housing, connection with family, emergency shelters, sober liv ing homes, skilled nursing facilities and board and care facilities.

There were still 55 remaining in the program, however , due to their vulnerability, and Carruth said that Project Roomkey was faced with “a cohort of persons without a room . . . The motel sites were closing and we did not yet have a voucher program in place.”

Project Roomkey got extended through July, but there were complications that prevented Ventura County from keeping the program fully operational.

“Our leases with three motels ended in early July and the county had to clean and return the property in the condition we found it,” Carruth explained, adding that funding allocations also ended.

A letter from FEMA to the state of California dated June 1 informed the state of the availability of funding extensions past June 30, which would “require submittal of current re-assess ments from the public health official and up to date information.” (1) A second FEMA letter dated July 1 announced the extension of funding for emer gency housing for those most vulnerable through July 30.

Carruth says that the county only found “out that it was renewed on July 3 for the month of July.”

In addition, “We could not extend Project Roomkey how it was originally established because the motels would not extend the leases with the county.”

The hotels did not respond by press deadline to inquiries seeking confirmation about them not wanting to continue leasing to the county.

Ventura County received other funding related to housing the homeless in response to COVID-19. A March 19 report from the California Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council stated that Ventura County received $299,245 and that Oxnard/ San Buenaventura/Ventura County Continuum of Care received another $325,257 in COVID-19 Emergency Homelessness Funding Grant Allocations. That funding is based on the 2019 Point in Time counts. (2)

On July 28, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved $3 million in funding to be allocated for a motel voucher program to house 130 people through December 31, 2020. Staff reported that they expect most of that cost to be reimbursed by FEMA. “This includes the 55 that stayed over in motels,” said Carruth. “We have issued 67 vouchers as of right now. Those vouchers are in use. Vouchers can only be used at motels that have a signed agreement with the county.”

Hotels participating in the county’s voucher program include the Vagabond Inns in Oxnard and Ventura and Thousand Oaks Premier Inn. Carruth said the county is “still working on securing a Simi Valley motel.” The goal is “to keep residents near their home community.”

Carruth explained that “each client is case managed by their service provider who is providing connections to resources to meet their basic needs. Food Share is also providing food resources specifically for people without kitchens.”

Services will continue to be provided by county agencies and nonprofit organizations during the voucher program’s duration.

County CEO staff will administer the motel voucher program. Vouchers are being distributed through a referral process with countywide homeless service providers. The priority for these referrals are for persons who were served by Project Roomkey, met the high-risk criteria and did not have safe placement. The referring agencies are supporting these clients further by helping them meet basic needs (food, laundry, etc.) and assisting with permanent housing plans.

The program does require participants to sign an agreement with rules and expectations, including working with service providers to develop longer-term housing plans.

FEMA funding rules restrict monies from being used for some behavioral health services like case management and counseling, but they can be used for certain “wraparound services” that are necessary for operating sites to house individuals. Administrative costs are specifically called out as not covered.

In addition, all programs using COVID-19 emergency funding through the state must comply with Housing First policies aimed at reducing barriers to housing the homeless such as treatment preconditions for substance use or behavioral contingencies. Emergency housing should not be “contingent of participation” in services.

On July 28, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved Mercy House as the designated developer to implement Project Homekey, if the county is approved to do so by the state. This project, a continuation of Project Roomkey, aims to convert existing structures like motels into permanent housing for those highly vulnerable in the homeless community. $600 million in funding will be administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Counties, cities and other local entities like housing authorities can apply for funds to purchase and rehabilitate housing, including motels, vacant apartment buildings and other facilities to convert or renovate them into permanent long-term housing.

Most of that funding is from the state’s allocations of federal Coronavirus Aid Relief Funds (CRF), with $50 million coming from the state’s own general fund. CRF funds must be spent by Dec. 30, 2020 and escrow on any property acquired in the program must close by Dec. 30 as well. Funding received through the State General Fund must be spent by June 30, 2022. (3)

“The state’s NOFA [Notice of Funding Availability] for Homekey requires some local match funding and other hurdles we have to overcome to be competitive for these resources,” Carruth noted.

Supervisors approved a county commitment of up to $504,000 each year for three years, with money coming from the Permanent Local Housing Allocation for Capital Development of Rental Housing to the proposed Motel Conversion Project for the Homekey program.

Staff told the supervisors to expect an update in the fall about Homekey progress.

NCS-all-others-TE%20Response_6012020.pdf 2. https://www.bcsh.ca.gov/hcfc/coronavirus19/allocations.pdf 3. https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/active-funding/ homekey.shtml