I’ve been on the phone all weekend with homeless service and housing providers. Here’s what I’m hearing. (Thread)
Many can’t access hand-sanitizer, so they’re making and sharing homemade versions of it effort to keep themselves and homeless people safe.
Many can’t access hand-sanitizer, so they’re making and sharing homemade versions of it effort to keep themselves and homeless people safe.
Shelters are starting to lose staff to illness - they’re themselves sick or can’t work because they’re caring for someone who is. Volunteers aren’t showing up for shifts. Shelters needs to hire more staff to cover all these shifts, but don’t have $ to do it.
Local and national health officials are concerned there could be an outbreak of coronavirus among the homeless population within the week. Shelters aren’t prepared, and don’t have resources to get ready. .
Many shelters are only open at night - people who are homeless have to leave shelters in the morning & find places to go for the day (as libraries & other public places shut down from coronavirus), then come back for another night of sleep in close quarters.
Shelters need $$ to obtain more space - hotels, sprung structures, even build new wings of their shelters - to allow them to separate out the most vulnerable seniors in their shelters and to allow people who are exposed to coronavirus to self-quarantine.
In areas like Seattle, there are hotel vacancies that could be safely housing people who are homeless. Shelters need resources to move the highest vulnerability shelter residents (seniors, people with health issues) to hotel rooms asap.
Homeless encampments are also a tremendous concerns. There too, we need sprung structures, hotels, rental assistance to get people inside and able to isolate and quarantine if needed.
Many people who are homeless have significant underlying health problems, so they’re very susceptible to severe illness and even death from COVID-19. Congress needs to do more RIGHT NOW to protect our highly vulnerable neighbors.
Bottom line: homeless shelter and service providers need money - a lot of it - and they need it right now. But Congress is about to pass an emergency spending bill that neglects these urgent and dire needs, a glaring and appalling oversight.
Senators must ensure current emergency spending bill
provides $ to protect against an outbreak of coronavirus among homeless people. This is not only a moral imperative; it’s an urgent public health necessity. Here’s what’s needed: bit.ly/2Qk79w3
provides $ to protect against an outbreak of coronavirus among homeless people. This is not only a moral imperative; it’s an urgent public health necessity. Here’s what’s needed: bit.ly/2Qk79w3
Bottom line: homeless shelter and service providers need money - a lot of it - and they need it right now. But Congress is about to pass an emergency spending bill that neglects these urgent and dire needs, a glaring and appalling oversight.
Senators must ensure current emergency spending bill
provides $ to protect against an outbreak of coronavirus among homeless people. This is not only a moral imperative; it’s an urgent public health necessity. Here’s what’s needed: bit.ly/2Qk79w3
provides $ to protect against an outbreak of coronavirus among homeless people. This is not only a moral imperative; it’s an urgent public health necessity. Here’s what’s needed: bit.ly/2Qk79w3
