County leases hotel for homeless people who may have COVID-19. More sites are planned.

Mecklenburg County has leased a 123-room hotel to be used for homeless people displaying symptoms of COVID-19 who need to be isolated, County Manager Dena Dioro said Thursday.

Diorio did not disclose the location of the hotel due to privacy concerns. But in an email to county commissioners on Sunday evening, Diorio wrote that Mecklenburg was in “negotiations with a local hotel to lease their facility for 60 days.”

“We were concerned that our homeless residents, if they do get sick or they get exposed, they don’t have anywhere else to go,” Diorio said Thursday, noting that if sick people remain in the shelters COVID-19 could easily spread to others.

“We wanted to make sure we did not leave them behind and that we provided them with the proper care that they need.”

Several commissioners told The Charlotte Observer that the facility sounded more like a motel, with doors accessible from outdoors to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

There are no homeless residents currently staying in the property, Diorio said, but preparations are underway ahead of potential cases.

Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said Thursday that no homeless residents have tested positive for COVID-19, out of the 32 confirmed cases in Mecklenburg.

County officials are looking for additional hotel sites where homeless people who are not sick could move to reduce the shelter population, Dioro said. Shelter officials are turning people away to prevent overcrowding, she said.

Commissioner Susan Harden said this first hotel serves as an alternative, “temporary” shelter.

“If you’re homeless, and if you are diagnosed with the virus or if you’ve been exposed to someone else, where do you go?” Harden said in an interview Thursday. “You can’t be in the shelter — then you’re infecting people in the shelter.”

Liz Clasen-Kelly, CEO of the Urban Ministry Center/Men’s Shelter of Charlotte, said this week that the organization has taken additional precautions to continue serving more than 600 people daily.

The shelter has stopped using in-person volunteers for now and is instead relying on staff, and has changed some services to reduce crowding.

Last week, shelter officials began health screenings for people entering the shelter to identify COVID-19 symptoms.

Clasen-Kelly said “a handful” of people have been symptomatic but were receiving health care and none had tested positive with COVID-19 as of late Tuesday.

Recommended hygiene practices are much harder without a home, she said.

“We always say, ‘Housing is healthcare.’ Never has that felt more true,” Clasen-Kelly wrote in an update this week.

“We know that housing provides safety and stability, but in this time we are reminded that housing provides a space to practice social distancing, frequent hand-washing and a place to quarantine.”

California’s state government is procuring hotels and motels for the same purpose, The Sacramento Bee reports. Several California cities already have begun to do so, according to local media reports.

Mecklenburg County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved giving $1.3 million to the COVID-19 Response Fund, overseen by the Foundation for the Carolinas and United Way of Central Carolinas. The community-wide effort will support Mecklenburg residents facing unprecedented financial hardships as the coronavirus disrupts the local economy and workforce.

Diorio said the county’s contribution should prioritize Mecklenburg’s homeless population, including individuals and families who may experience homelessness due to the pandemic.

Commissioner Mark Jerrell said Mecklenburg must remain proactive as residents grapple with the reverberating impacts of the coronavirus.

”I’m glad that we have a focus on our most vulnerable and trying to wrap our arms around the homeless,” Jerrell said in an interview Thursday. “The agreement with the hotel is certainly a good thing for the community.”

This work was made possible in part by grant funding from Report for America/GroundTruth Project and the Foundation For The Carolinas.

This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 4:29 PM.