- A plan to use a hotel in Laguna Hills to house elderly
homeless people affected by thecoronavirus has been paused after the county filed a lawsuit claiming the homeless people posed a threat to the health and safety of the community. - About 14 percent of the 31,000 people living in Laguna Hills are elderly, who have a higher risk from the coronavirus, and the city borders Laguna Woods, which has about 18,800 people over 55.
- It's one of many potential hotels being used for sheltering homeless people, in a plan put out by
California Gov. Gavin Newsom after he said the coronavirus could infect more than 60,000 of the state's 100,000-plus homeless population. - Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories
A plan to use a hotel's 76 rooms to house some of California's 100,000 homeless population during the coronavirus pandemic has been stopped for now after the county filed a lawsuit against it. It's the second hotel in Orange County to face intense pressure from concerned locals.
Laguna Hills filed a lawsuit on April 14 against the owner of the Laguna Hills Inn, the county, and a nonprofit homeless group. The suit claimed that the hotel's putting up of homeless people posed "a direct threat to the health and safety of the surrounding community," according to the OC Register.
California's homeless population has been a concern for weeks. In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the coronavirus could infect more than 60,000 of the state's 100,000-plus homeless population, Business Insider previously reported. In early April, he announced an initiative called "Project Roomkey" to secure 15,000 hotel rooms for homeless people across the state. He allocated $50 million to the plan.
The Laguna Hills Inn was one of these destinations. It was meant to be leased for at least 90 days to put up homeless people older than 65 with underlying health conditions, or who had COVID-19 symptoms, or tested positive for it, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Laguna Hills Mayor Janine Heft said in a statement that the "extreme action" was taken because the county had been put in an "extreme position."
"It is horrifying to propose to place a substantial number of COVID-19 patients in the Laguna Hills and Laguna Woods vicinity, where there are over 20,000 of the persons most at-risk — seniors. We could not stand by and watch this happen," she said.
Laguna Hills' population of 31,000 is made of about 14% senior citizens, and it borders Laguna Woods, which has 18,800 residents who are 55 or older, according to the Los Angeles Times.
This was the second hotel that was going to be used to provide shelter for homeless people in the county. The first hotel, Ayres Hotel in Laguna Woods, didn't happen after locals protested against it, and the hotel owner asked to be released from the contract.
The Los Angeles Times' editorial board described the scenario of the first hotel failure with a headline that said: "NIMBYs stop a hotel from housing sick homeless people in Orange County."
Read the original article on Insider