PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Lower Bucks County is adding two new modular units to house COVID-19-positive residents who are living in homeless shelters. The units were paid for with $400,000 in CARES Act money, which was distributed last summer.
The extension modules are being delivered in mid-January, says Julie Dees, the acting chief executive officer at Family Services Association of Bucks County. They will be set up behind the Bucks County Homeless Shelter on New Falls Road in Levittown.
"It gives us that individual space, so that if folks are COVID-positive, or they've been exposed, we have a place where we can safely house them in close proximity to the shelter," Dees said. "So we can still provide them with services we provide our other residents."
The modular units are 15 feet by 50 feet.
"Everything is in there, and it's self contained. And they'll be very comfortable," she said.
They're set up like an efficiency apartment, with a small common area, private sleeping space and a bathroom, Dees said.
"They are really designed for a family of four," she said. "Or if it isn't a family, we can accommodate two individuals, because they can be in their own separate space."
She says so far there have been no COVID-19 cases in the shelter.
"Lots of precautions in place and, really, just trying our best to make sure everyone has PPE, that they use it appropriately, that we're cleaning," she said.
Dees says there have been a few instances when people were exposed, but they tested negative.
She says the pandemic is making it more difficult to move people out of the shelter and into permanent housing. The average length of stay is now about 84 days. Last year it was 67.
