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Santa Clara County officials charged with finding shelter for the homeless people they consider to be "most at risk” from contracting the coronavirus have said they are making steady progress on moving those people into hotels and motels, however, assisting the vast majority of the county’s homeless population remains a major challenge.
The county is considered slightly more fortunate in relation to other Bay Area counties, having reported 40 confirmed COVID-19 cases among their homeless population, compared to San Francisco, which has twice as many.
Ky Ly is Santa Clara County’s Director of the Office of Support of Housing, and he told KCBS Radio that they are lucky to be able to provide people with a place to isolate.
He said the county has Iocated about 500 rooms for the most at-risk, and an additional 500 rooms for the homeless through the Governor Gavin Newsom’s Project Roomkey initiative.
Ly added, though, that hiring staff and setting up the program is complicated going forward in a post-coronavirus world.
“I think for me, the ideal situation is to have an even keener focus on increasing permanent and affordable hosing,” Ly said.