115 homeless individuals temporarily housed during Covid-19 pandemic

HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. (KIEM) — Humboldt county public health director Michele Stephens is giving residents a better idea of outreach efforts to the homeless community during Covid-19.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Emergency Operations Center has acquired porto-potties and handwashing stations that have been dispersed around the county.

The EOC has also secured facial coverings for homeless individuals, and local community partners have a process in place to collect and wash marks, then re-distribute them.

There is also a screening process that has been implemented with local service providers to check homeless individuals for covid-19 symptoms, and then get them in to get tested if needed.

Those that are awaiting results, or just those individuals flagged as a higher risk to the virus, are able to access temporary housing in one of the local motel rooms cleared by the county.

“To date we have had about 115 unique individuals that have been temporarily housed or are temporarily housed in approximately 60 rooms. Some have exited the program on their own, by their own choice, and some have exited due to acquiring permanent supportive housing,” Stephens says.

The county has 15 additional motel rooms that they will be adding in the next week.