Skip to content
CapRadio

CapRadio

signal status listen live donate
listen live donate signal status
listen live donate signal status
  • News
    • topics
    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Race and Equity
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
  • Music
    • genres
    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Eclectic
    • Daily Playlist
  • Programs + Podcasts
    • news
    • Morning Edition
    • All Things Considered
    • Marketplace
    • Insight With Vicki Gonzalez
    • music
    • Acid Jazz
    • At the Opera
    • Classical Music
    • Connections
    • Excellence in Jazz
    • Hey, Listen!
    • K-ZAP on CapRadio
    • Mick Martin's Blues Party
    • Programs A-Z
    • Podcast Directory
  • Schedules
    • News
    • Music
    • ClassicalStream
    • JazzStream
    • Weekly Schedule
    • Daily Playlist
  • Community
    • Events Calendar
    • CapRadio Garden
    • CapRadio Reads
    • Ticket Giveaways
  • Support
    • Evergreen Gift
    • One-Time Gift
    • Corporate Support
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Gift
    • Legacy Gift
    • Endowment Gift
    • Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • e‑Newsletter
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Close Menu
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 

'Someone Will Contract The Virus Here:' Meet Homeless Californians Trying To Survive A Pandemic

Sunday, May 3, 2020 | Sacramento, CA
Photo by Byrhonda Lyons for CalMatters

Kent Dull lives at the Here There encampment in Berkeley, California.

Photo by Byrhonda Lyons for CalMatters

By Byrhonda Lyons, CalMatters

The vast majority of people who were unhoused in California before coronavirus swept across the state are exactly where they were. Encampments still line the streets. Shelters feel more like a risk than a refuge. And affordable housing is as elusive as ever.

Watch as they capture moments from their everyday lives — and talk about how they struggle to stay safe and healthy under circumstances that have often grown only more hazardous.

For the above mini-doc, CalMatters interviewed people experiencing homelessness. And in an unusual arrangement necessitated by unusual conditions, we compensated three as freelance videographers to film themselves going about living their lives while most Californians remain in their homes under the state’s shelter-in-place order.

“It shouldn’t take this kind of event to get homeless into hotels or homes, especially the most vulnerable,” said Kent Dull, a resident of a Berkeley housing encampment who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. “I didn’t ever want to be vulnerable or sick, but I am.”

California has by far the greatest number of homeless residents of any state — the federal government last estimated their numbers at about 150,000.

Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would provide 15,000 hotel and motel rooms for unsheltered Californians. But those rooms aren’t for everyone — they are made available to people only if they are at a heightened risk of contracting COVID-19, or after they have tested positive for the novel coronavirus that causes it.

Nearly a month after the governor’s “Project Roomkey” announcement, only a little more than a third of those rooms are filled. 

Activists say that unless the state — unless it wants to be responsible for major outbreaks among homeless people who lack the resources to shelter safely with social distances or keep their hands germ free — should pay to put more people into the estimated 80% of hotel rooms that are now vacant.

But there are no widespread plans to do that. State officials say they worry about a surge and want to preserve many of those 15,000 rooms for homeless people after they get sick from the virus. Money is also an issue: The Trump administration will only reimburse California for hotel rooms for homeless people who fit more narrow criteria for having been directly affected by the virus. 

Some cities also are resisting. Several have legally challenged the state’s efforts, contending that impoverished people without homes also are more likely to be substance abusers or mentally ill — and would pose problems in the neighborhoods in which they would be placed.

A recent COVID-19 impact study co-authored by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley and Boston University relied on a model with a grim outlook: “homeless individuals would be twice as likely to be hospitalized, two to four times as likely to require critical care, and two to three times as likely to die” as people with homes.

Learn more about California’s homelessness crisis here.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.


Follow us for more stories like this

CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you.  As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.

Donate Today  

    More about Coronavirus

  • NIAID-RML via AP

    Coronavirus In California: Latest Updates And Resources

    The coronavirus has impacted nearly every aspect of life in California and around the world. Here are resources and all our coverage at CapRadio and NPR.

 CALMattersCoronavirushomelessness

Coronavirus Newsletter

Get answers to your questions, the latest updates and easy access to the resources you need, delivered to your inbox.

 

Want to know what to expect? Here's a recent newsletter.

Thanks for subscribing!

We'll send you weekly emails so you can stay informed about the coronavirus in California.

Browse all newsletters

More Stories

Michael A. Mariant / AP Photo

Five things to know about nuclear power in California

May 14, 2022

AP Photo/Terry Chea

A billion pounds of California almonds could be stuck in warehouses instead of being exported

May 9, 2022

Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / CalMatters

Anti-worker or pro-worker? Why labor unions are fighting over a housing bill

May 9, 2022

Most Viewed

Downtown Sacramento shooting: What we know and latest updates

With California budget surplus projected at $97 billion, Newsom proposes driver rebates, more reproductive health funding

California coronavirus updates: US may be vulnerable to COVID-19 come this fall and winter season

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla will appear on California’s June primary ballot twice. Here’s why.

Omicron FAQ: How long does COVID-19 last in a room? Can cloth masks be safer? Can I reuse an N95 mask?

We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter

Most Viewed

Downtown Sacramento shooting: What we know and latest updates

With California budget surplus projected at $97 billion, Newsom proposes driver rebates, more reproductive health funding

California coronavirus updates: US may be vulnerable to COVID-19 come this fall and winter season

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla will appear on California’s June primary ballot twice. Here’s why.

Omicron FAQ: How long does COVID-19 last in a room? Can cloth masks be safer? Can I reuse an N95 mask?

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    • (916) 278-8900
    • Toll-free (877) 480-5900
    • Email Us
    • Submit a News Tip
  • Contact Us

  • About Us

    • Contact Us / Feedback
    • Coverage
    • Directions
    • Careers & Internships
    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Press
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile App
    • On Air Schedules
    • Smart Speakers
    • Playlist
    • Podcasts
    • RSS
  • Connect With Us

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2022, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.