Did California’s massive COVID homeless shelter program work? A new evaluation probes the results

BY MARISA KENDALL (CALMATTERS) – California’s massive effort to shelter homeless residents during the COVID-19 pandemic was a success, according to a new report that says the effort changed the state’s homeless services system for the better. But at the same time, the researchers pointed out a troubling dearth of available data on the program. With the little information they were able to access, they found that people who left the program had at least a 40% chance of returning to homelessness. Project Roomkey, one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature pandemic initiatives, temporarily moved about 62,000 homeless Californians into hotel rooms in an effort to prevent them from catching COVID. The model, which provided residents with their own private room and bathroom, as well as (in some cases) healthcare and other services, was a world apart from traditional shelters where dozens of people sleep together in a room and services are limited.& The independent evaluation of the program, released Monday evening, says Roomkey succeeded in saving lives while also shifting the way the state thinks about homeless shelters. “I believe the program was successful and I believe it has a further reach beyond just what happened during the program itself,...