When the pandemic began in early 2020, no one seemed more vulnerable than people without permanent shelter. At the time, public health experts warned that thousands of homeless people in California could be hospitalized or killed by the highly contagious new coronavirus.
State officials launched Project Roomkey in April 2020 to protect homeless people considered high-risk — because they are over 65 or medically fragile — by moving them off the street and into empty motel and hotel rooms. This massive operation to provide safe shelter for tens of thousands of people would not have happened without FEMA's commitment to reimburse cities, counties and states for the millions they spent on leases, food providers and services to operate hotels and motels.
But now, years later, the agency will not pay all of its promised share, burdening state and local governments with millions of dollars they cannot afford to lose.
The initial 75% reimbursement rate was increased in January 2021 by the Biden administration to 100% — and made retroactive.
Now, as FEMA officials consider reimbursement requests, they have decided to change the rules — long after Roomkey has stopped working. Although FEMA will reimburse rooms rented through June 2021 for any length of stay, it will only reimburse up to 20 days of stays between June 11, 2021, and May 11, 2023.
This was news to city and state leaders who said they did not know the reimbursement rate was declining until recently. “It was basically a policy change midstream after many of these programs had been running for over a year,” said Brian Ferguson, spokesman for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
This is unreasonable. Cities and counties acted in good faith. Federal emergency officials should do so, too.
FEMA officials justified the change as simply aligning reimbursement levels with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for 20 days for isolation and quarantine — and said local officials should have known that was always the basis for reimbursement.
The deadline was more arbitrary, based on the fact that by June 2021 California had lower coronavirus prevalence and high vaccination rates.
However, the Roomkey rooms were not intended for the temporary isolation of homeless people infected with the coronavirus, but as long-term shelter for those at risk of contracting it and becoming seriously ill.
The risks are very high. State and local governments could be on the hook for more than $300 million, according to state emergency services officials.
The city of Los Angeles could lose up to $60 million, or a third of what it expected from FEMA, for the Roomkey project. That's the estimated cost of a stay longer than 20 days at three city-run hotels after June 2021, according to Matt Szabo, the city's chief administrative officer.
San Francisco may lose more. According to the San Francisco City Controller's Office, the city has submitted $881 million in claims to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for emergency coronavirus reimbursement. An estimated $114 million could be denied under the 20-day rule.
Los Angeles County has a lower risk — only about $1 million in Roomkey expenses after June 2021, according to a county official.
In Los Angeles County, 10,768 people stayed in a Roomkey at some point between April 2020 and May 2023, according to officials with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Roomkey didn't work perfectly for all of them. Some stayed for only days, others for months. But for many, the program was an important lifeline.
As of January, there have been 389 deaths due to COVID-19 among Los Angeles County's homeless population. But what would have been the death toll if Los Angeles County and its cities, like Los Angeles, had to scale back their Project Roomkey operations after June 2021 because they weren't sure whether FEMA would recoup those costs?
California has ramped up temporary housing for homeless people on a large scale to save them from a deadly virus. Now FEMA must make good on its promise to fully reimburse the state for Project Roomkey.
