A San Diego County COVID Hotel Guest’s Struggle to Find Permanent Housing
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By Zoë Meyers and Cody Dulaney | inewsource
Linda McDowell had goosebumps after touring a downtown condominium just blocks from San Diego Bay. It was spacious ample for her 6-year-previous pitbull named Stella, and with a park down the avenue, it seemed ideal. She just about couldn’t consider it would be the 1st put to get in touch with her own considering the fact that prior to the pandemic.
On the way to the bank for funds to keep the condominium, Linda sang aloud, “I’m gettin’ an apartment,” incorporating her have twist on the Sam Cooke classic, “We’re havin’ a occasion. Dancin’ to the audio.”
For more than a 12 months, Linda and Stella have been living at a San Diego County-run lodge in Old City, which has been applied to temporarily household folks with pre-current well being conditions through the coronavirus pandemic. She is 1 of dozens of other individuals who however continue being at the hotel as the troubled plan is at chance of ending a thirty day period quicker than expected.
The remaining guests have only a handful of weeks to obtain a new location to stay, or they will be sent to a homeless shelter. A county spokesperson reported officials are undertaking almost everything they can to help, and pointed to the variety of housing subsidies that have been offered.
Linda is one of 30 visitors who gained a Portion 8 voucher, a form of governing administration support that aids very low-cash flow people pay out for housing, and it gave her peace of intellect understanding she’d have monetary assistance to protect the $2,445 month-to-month hire. Even so, she has appear to discover how tricky it can even now be to discover a residence in San Diego.
“It’s been a prolonged haul,” she mentioned.
The hotel shelter application has been winding down considering that the beginning of the yr, and county staff members and contractors are meant to be doing work with guests to assistance them uncover housing. But for the earlier various months, Linda stated she has not been finding the help she needs, so she resolved to begin touring and applying for models on her possess.
So considerably she hasn’t been effective and she’s worried she won’t be in a position to uncover someplace to reside prior to the system finishes.
County officers nevertheless have not advised guests when they need to be out of the hotel, but time is operating out.
Read through the comprehensive post on inewsource.org.
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