Buying old hotels to permanently house the homeless is becoming a trend. Cities like Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Seattle all have found success with this model.
Many communities tested it out during the COVID pandemic. Cities used federal money to rent the homeless rooms in hotels.
But now cities and non-profits are buying hotels for permanent housing. I happen to live in one such hotel in Denver. So, I have seen exactly what goes inside them.
My building is owned by Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, a non-profit agency. But the city plans to buy a hotel to house the homeless soon, too. The hotel the city plans to purchase is a former Stay Inn in Central Park, not far from my building at 3737 Quebec.
Mostly, I see a lot of good going on at my building. Most of my neighbors are extremely grateful to no longer be on the street. Some, like myself, are working and pay rent. My rent is a third of my income, up to $1029 per month.
A few people who live here, despite the misconception that homeless people can’t be sober, have voluntary gone into rehab or given up drugs and/or alcohol on their own.
It’s easier to give up a crutch when you have a roof over your head. Many homeless people drink or use drugs on the street to escape the hell of homelessness.
Billions of dollars available nationwide
Hundreds of millions of dollars are rolling into some cities from the federal government as part of the COVID relief packages. Some cities, including Denver, hope to use some of that money to buy more hotels for the homeless.
The Democratic-controlled state legislature also appears ready to help. A bill introduced last week “transfers $15 million from the general fund to the housing development grant fund for the funding of rental assistance and tenancy support programs for individuals experiencing homelessness related to underutilized hotels, underutilized motels, and other underutilized properties, and the awarding of grants and loans for the purchase of underutilized hotels, underutilized motels, and other underutilized properties.”
Earlier this month, Congresswoman Diana DeGette and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced their intention to use $2 million in federal money to buy the former Stay Inn in the Central Park neighborhood. It would be used as a shelter initially but later as permanent housing for people experiencing homeless.
With President Biden, the Colorado Legislature and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock all pushing for the hotel conversions, logic seems to point to more hotel purchases coming soon.
Gunshots fired outside my window last night
Sure, things happen at my building that can be a little scary. Last night I heard eight gunshots outside my window. I have no idea what happened, as I wasn’t about to go outside to check it out.
However, it appeared something went down at a hotel behind where I live. That hotel is not a hotel for the homeless.
You also have people living in my building who don’t comply with basic standards of hygiene and sanitation. It can be appalling. Staff, however, addresses it eventually.
Others suffer from mental health conditions that involve a lot of screaming and wandering through the halls. But given what most of my neighbors have been up against, the place is remarkably low key.
The good news is levels of noise and violence have decreased markedly here over the past year. It takes a while to build community.
But the police still are here frequently. Five of them were here a few nights back for an alleged hostage situation.
Fire alarms get pulled regularly. It’s reminiscent of junior high school sometimes.
Hotels come with built-in infrastructure
There are plenty of reasons why hotels are such great options for housing the homeless. Utilities all are included. This is important because many homeless people cannot get utilities in their name due to poor credit.
Hotels usually come with room phones. These serve as a built-in lifeline for homeless people, many of whom arrive at their new apartment without a phone. Just like all utilities, including internet, the phone is included in the rent.
Linens and laundry are provided. Probably the biggest downside to living in a former hotel is that there are no kitchens. Just a microwave and a tiny refrigerator. On the other hand, it probably is good for our safety that the rooms don't contain stoves.
The hotel I live in is not fancy. It previously was the Quality Inn and Suites for the former Stapleton Airport. The swimming pool has been filled in. Carpeting in the rooms is sort of the indoor-outdoor variety, but new.
There are heavy curtains and valances over the windows that keep out the cold and heat. The bedspread is white and sort of heavy. The bed is the most comfortable I ever have slept on.
And I do have a granite countertop in the bathroom, like many hotels do. The shower and tub are full-sized with excellent water pressure that’s instantly hot.
California to invest billions in hotels for homeless
A federal judge told the city of Los Angeles it needs to house its homeless by October. Once confined to Skid Row downtown, homelessness is a rampant problem all over the Southland.
“(California Gov. Gavin) Newsom's proposal includes $8.75 billion to expand a California program created during the pandemic that converts hotel and motel rooms and other properties into housing for people in need,” according to an Associated Press story published last week. “Roughly half of that money would go toward creating housing where mental health and other behavioral services are provided on site to people living there.
“The nation’s most populous state has an estimated 161,000 people experiencing homelessness, which is more than any other state.”
Excellent mental health care provided hotel dwellers
The former hotel I live in also has wraparound mental health services on site. Licensed nurse practitioners, mental health counselors and others visit clients weekly. Mental health medications by injection are administered on site.
People who have their mental health medication injected don’t have to worry about taking pills every night. Just one injection lasts an entire month.
The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, which owns my building, also has a hospital on wheels called The HOP. It’s a mobile medical station where bloodwork and other routine tests can be handled. It comes at least once a month.
Never have I had such excellent healthcare where I see both the provider and a mental health counselor weekly. It makes a big difference when it comes to managing your mental illness.
I have been working at least part-time almost a year now. That’s when I was released from the downtown Denver jail, where I had been placed after a scuffle with police over an alleged camping violation. I went straight from jail into my new apartment at Fusion Studios.
I had been declared incompetent to proceed and was held many months without trial. I spent six months in the state mental hospital.
Denver has faced lawsuits for this practice. I was declared competent shortly after moving into my new home.
New York mayor deems homeless hotels a failure
New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio has vowed to put an end to people experiencing homelessness being housed in hotels. In New York, the homeless are housed in hotels that still function as full-service hotels. They are mixed in with non-homeless guests and problems sometime arise.
CBSN New York reported the mayor plans to have the homeless out of the hotels and back into regular shelters within a couple of months. “De Blasio said what prevents him from giving an exact deadline for the homeless to exit is that state and federal governments also need to weigh in before a return to traditional shelters.
“The mayor said returning the homeless to congregate shelter settings must be done with proper safeguards, along with the right services and programs.”
CBS New York reported that police say 911 emergency calls went from averaging dozens per month to about 100 on some blocks, including 10th Avenue near 49th Street, in and around the Skyline Hotel. They reported a rise in drug dealing, assaults, robberies and more.
In Minnesota, police also saw increases in calls for service at hotels that housed the homeless.
‘Not a place with a mat on the floor’
Last week, Seattle’s King County bought a half dozen or so hotels with the intention of using them as permanent homeless housing. “King County Executive Dow Constantine said that it is part of an effort to house 1,600 people in hotels by the end of 2022,” according to the Seattle Times.
“This could be the moment where we’re able to turn the tide on this thing — we’ve just got to unite around it,” Constantine said in an interview before his public announcement during Tuesday’s state of the county address.
“We’ve got to get to the point where we can say to the next person who’s showing up with their tent, ‘I have a better alternative for you. It’s not a place with a mat on the floor where you’re going to get kicked out in the morning.'”