Helping and sheltering the homeless presents certain challenges in general and even more so during a pandemic. Things like maintaining safe distances in close quarters, staff shortages, funding shortfalls, and lack of access to healthcare make logistics difficult.

An article in Route Fifty highlights what counties and cities across the nation are doing to take care of the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic:

There is no one set of best practices that local officials  are working from, though most have attempted to find ways to help people obey federal health recommendations that encourage frequent handwashing and “social distancing”—or keeping a minimum of 6 feet away from other people. In San Francisco, city officials are using 30 recreational vehicles as temporary “isolation housing” for people who can’t self-isolate because they’re homeless or living in close quarters with others. In Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, officials leased a 123-room hotel for the same purpose. King County, Washington officials have worked to “decongest” large shelters by spreading people throughout existing spaces and shuttling more vulnerable clients—elderly people, those with pre-existing conditions—to recently purchased motel rooms for protection.

For more information:

Cities Rush to Respond as Homelessness and Coronavirus Collide (Route Fifty)