AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced today that it is offering a 74-bed motel — which it recently bought to re-purpose as housing for the homeless — to federal, state, or local officials to temporarily house and treat coronavirus patients.
“AIDS Healthcare Foundation has long addressed public health emergencies — from the AIDS epidemic to the Ebola crisis to California’s homeless crisis,” AHF President Michael Weinstein said. “We will do everything we can to help the vulnerable during this difficult time.”
The group’s housing advocacy division, Housing Is A Human Right, said it is working with state and city officials “to ensure that elected officials speedily approve legislation that protects residents, from the spread of the virus.
The group’s policy effort includes these eight (8) general principles:
— An emergency moratorium on rent increases and evictions;
— An emergency moratorium on mortgage foreclosures;
— Suspension of unlawful detainer proceedings through March 2020;
— Suspension of homeless encampment sweeps statewide;
— Emergency rental or mortgage assistance — or rent and mortgage forgiveness covering the period of a declared coronavirus emergency;
— Prevent utility shutoffs for the duration of the crisis;
— Ensure the unhoused can self-quarantine on the streets with adequate access to sanitation and medical support;
— Ensure shelters are adequately prepared to enact proper social distancing procedures and maintain sanitary conditions for the sake of their residents.
The group also urged city officials to use unoccupied buildings as emergency shelters for coronavirus patients.
