Hotel Rooms For the Homeless in Santa Fe

[TexasTowelie]

New Mexicans have been told to stay home to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But this is a tall order for those without a permanent roof over their heads. This week, homeless shelters in Santa Fe began using city and county funds to rent hotel rooms for some of the most at-risk members of the homeless population.

On Wednesday, Santa Fe City Council approved a $500,000 COVID-19 emergency response fund. Kyra Ochoa, the director of the city's Community Services Department, explained to councilors via video conference that $250,000 from the fund will be dedicated toward meeting the basic needs of Santa Feans who have been most immediately impacted by the crisis.

"The clear needs that we're seeing are what we call social determinants of people's health—need for shelter and housing, need for food, need for transportation and childcare for essential workers such as healthcare providers," Ochoa said, adding that the funds could be used to pay directly for things such as utilities, rent and medical bills.

The city plans to distribute the funds through the Santa Fe Connects Program. In partnership with the county, the program is an initiative to create a network of organizations providing essential services to Santa Fe residents. This includes homeless shelters, mental health providers, and food distribution services among others.

Read more: https://www.sfreporter.com/news/2020/03/28/hotel-rooms-for-the-homeless/

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. As someone who does volunteer work at one of the local homeless shelters,

I'm acutely aware of the need here. Right now a number of hotels are shut down, not taking guests. I suppose they could be used for the homeless. But it really isn't as simple as that. A lot of homeless people are simply not capable of managing themselves. There was an article in the local paper several months ago which, among other things, pointed out that some formerly homeless were simply not capable of maintaining an apartment very well.

Hotel rooms could be a good solution. But only a temporary one.