Project Homekey

With the onset of covid-19 in March 2020,

cities across the nation took up emergency measures to help mitigate the spread of the deadly virus among vulnerable populations, including individuals experiencing homelessness. West Sacramento and other California jurisdictions quickly knit resources together to launch Project Roomkey, leasing scores of hotel rooms and placing homeless individuals in these protected environments.

Working alongside the city homeless coordinator and our partners at the Yolo County Children’s Alliance, Mercy Coalition volunteers have played a key role in helping provide daily lunches and bi-weekly food boxes to the 80-90 clients that have been part of Project Roomkey since the pandemic began.

In the winter of 2020-21, Project Roomkey will gradually give way to the state’s sponsored Homekey Program, in which the City actually purchases hotel properties and utilizes them to house unsheltered individuals who are elderly or the most medically vulnerable. Coalition staff and volunteers are provide food services and Independent Living Skills case management for the clients in the Homekey Program.