FEMA to help fund Cooper’s plan to house homeless during coronavirus pandemic
Federal officials approved Gov. Roy Cooper’s plan to utilize facilities such as hotels and college dormitories to house people in unstable housing situations who need to quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“North Carolinians without stable housing still need places to go if they are have a mild case of COVID-19 or need to quarantine after being exposed to the virus,” Cooper said in a statement released Wednesday morning. “These types of alternatives will help people who have no other safe options to self-isolate or social distance while we slow the spread of this virus.”
The state received word that FEMA will cover 75 percent of the costs for providing around 16,500 individual housing units in hotels, motels, trailers and college dormitories for at-risk members of the population impacted directly by COVID-19. The state will cover the remaining 25 percent of the costs, which includes providing support for security, laundry, food, electricity and water.
The housing will be available to:
- People who test positive for COVID-19 and need to be isolated but do not require hospitalization, including those discharged from hospitals.
- People exposed to COVID-19 and identified by a health care professional as needing quarantine but do not need hospitalization.
- People needing social distancing as a precautionary measure, as determined by public health officials, particularly for high-risk groups such as people over 65 or with certain underlying health conditions such as respiratory illness, compromised immune systems or chronic disease. This may include those whose living situation makes them unable to adhere to social distancing guidance.
State officials will engage the hospitality industry as well as other private-sector businesses, in addition to the state’s colleges and universities, to begin providing housing through the plan.