SACRAMENTO, California — County officials say the emergency housing program launched during the COVID-19 pandemic known as Project Roomkey was closed Friday—weeks before the anticipated October timeframe.
According to Sacramento County spokesperson Janna Haynes, the cost-per-person to keep someone housed and fed under Project Roomkey was $4,000 a month.
While they reported close to 200 participants in May, county officials recently said they have a total of 192 people transitioning out of the project.
Next Move Homeless Services arrived to the final Project Roomkey location and helped transition people into the following housing and health programs:
- 60 people received motel vouchers
- 42% of people have housing lined up or are waiting for their housing to be ready
- 30% of people are transitioning into the 'County Scattered Site' shelters
- 42 people found housing
- 40 people enrolled in 'County Scattered Site' shelter
- 22 people violated Project Roomkey rules and left without housing
- 13 people left voluntarily without housing
- 8 people left involuntarily for hospitalization
- 7 people placed in behavioral health interim housing or permanent housing
Between June and August 2023, behavioral health services supported the following people:
- 28 clients agreed to screenings for services
- 26 clients consented to referrals for mental health programs
- 20 clients went into full-service partnerships
- 6 clients went into the Community Outreach Recovery Empowerment (CORE) Program
Sacramento County launched its Project Roomkey program in April 2020 with four motels, 522 rooms and 41 isolated rooms for homeless residents exposed to COVID-19.
The program was running for almost 40 months before closing Friday.
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