Sacramento County has been funding and operating Project Roomkey (PRK) since April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program started out as four motels with 522 prevention rooms and 41 medical isolation trailers. While the program has been slowly paring down as the pandemic has lessened, there are still nearly 200 people sheltering in the remaining two motel locations.
As the ultimate priority of ramping down PRK has been and remains to be safe and stable exits for participants, the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance (DHA) will be extending the leases with the remaining two motels until early next year. This extension will also allow for the continued access to isolation units for unsheltered persons referred in from hospitals.
The PRK COVID Response Team, including staff from the County, City of Sacramento and Sacramento Steps Forward, along with community-based housing providers, are actively working with the remaining 200 participants to stay active with the housing process. This includes helping them with documents needed for rental applications and to secure critical resources such as funding to help pay for down payments or furniture, making relationship connections to estranged family members, or return to residency help for those that have family in other parts of the country.
Project Roomkey by the numbers:
- Total guests served in motels: 1,920
- Total guests served in isolation trailers: 250
- Total exits to Housing: 497
- Total exits to temporary destinations or institutions: 698
- Total exits to other destinations/death: 975
- Guests reporting Chronic homelessness: 41%
Project Roomkey Guest demographics:
- Age:
- 0-17: 4%
- 18-34: 13%
- 35-54: 37%
- 55+: 46%
- Gender:
- Female: 43%
- Male: 56%
- No gender/Transgender: 1%
- Race:
- American Indian, Alaska Native, or Indigenous: 2.8%
- Asian or Asian American: 1.8%
- Black, African American, or African: 34%
- Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 1.5%
- Hispanic: 15%
- White: 35%
- Multiple races: 4.5%
- No Answer: 5%
- Disability:
- 53% of guests reported having a disability
- 62% of guests reported having a physical disability
- 84% of guests reported having a developmental disability
- 36% of guests reported having a mental health disorder
- Health Conditions
- 38% of guests reported having a chronic health condition
- 26% of guests reported having an alcohol or substance use disorder, or both
