Shelter Partnership’s Response to COVID-19

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While many of us are experiencing disruptions in our normal workdays, Shelter Partnership’s most visible endeavor, the S. Mark Taper Foundation Shelter Resource Bank warehouse in the City of Bell, is actively taking in and distributing donations of new goods.

Our warehouse is responding to the current crisis by providing essential supplies like emergency blankets, disinfectant bleach, soap, diapers, and socks to our network of community service agencies across L.A. County. We are also distributing emergency supplies to the new shelters Los Angeles has set up in City parks and recreation sites and hotel/motel beds in the “Project Roomkey” program, including over 12,000 face masks to frontline workers serving at local shelters. As of this writing, we have distributed over $500,000 worth of needed goods to these important endeavors.

Shelter Partnership is working with County and City partners, and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, to discuss longer-term strategies to address homelessness in light of present emergency efforts under COVID-19. Current efforts have led to an unprecedented 2,000 bed expansion of the Los Angeles shelter system, moving many vulnerable individuals from the streets into motels, hotels and repurposed City facilities.

However, these actions raise the questions of what will happen to these individuals once the public health crisis ends and federal disaster assistance funding from FEMA expires? Planning meetings are focusing on strategies – including federal funding advocacy and the expedient siting of new temporary and permanent housing options – to assist these sheltered individuals to transition to alternative housing rather than having to return to the streets once the temporary lease agreements with motel and hotel owners expire and recreation centers return to their original use. No matter what plans we follow to help our homeless neighbors, Shelter Partnership will be there.

It’s been our honor to be there for Los Angeles for over 30 years. We hope that you and your family remain safe and healthy. Please visit our website and social media channels for any new information and updates on what we are doing to impact our community.

If you are able, please donate today. Your support will help us ramp up our response to the coronavirus and be ready for whatever comes next. Or, please check out our Amazon wish list. Immediate product donation needs include: masks, hand sanitizer, gloves, toilet paper, liquid soap, gowns, facial tissue, and trash bags. Please contact Jennifer Marquez, Director of Product Donations, at jmarquez@shelterpartnership.org if you would like to make a donation of any of these items.

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