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Thousands of homeless New Yorkers have continued to seek shelter in the city’s subways, avoiding an overwhelmed and crowded shelter system that poses its own dangers during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, both Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio condemned the presence of the homeless in the subways, but they offered little in the way of solutions to the problem. Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling for the MTA to close ten subway stations so NYPD and homeless outreach workers can help get the homeless into shelters, and so the MTA can clean the stations thoroughly. “We'll devote...

I parked my car very close to a bus stop... A homeless guy was sitting on the bus bench. I was about to get out of my car. Suddenly the homeless guy came to my car. He opened the door for my rear seats. He asked me to drive him somewhere. I became very upset and asked him what he was doing. He then closed the car door and walked away... I immediately drove away and parked somewhere else... Be careful out there... Especially ladies... This happened in Hollywood area... There are many homeless people in that area...

A Reuters reporter and photographer spent several hours traveling under the city to talk to those with nowhere else to go. Afraid of the coronavirus in the shelters, many are sleeping on ghost trains and on platforms abandoned by almost everyone else during the lockdown. The lights still scream for attention, but on this night Times Square has the feel of an abandoned Hollywood film set. Gone are the hordes of tourists shooting selfies with Elmo and Wonder Woman. Instead, a lone SUV glides by and a passenger’s phone glows as she records the scene from the safety of the...

Researchers and clinicians who have ‘experimented’ with random mass testing for COVID-19 have made some pretty amazing – and amazingly depressing – discoveries. Yesterday, we shared a report about one sweeping antibody testing regime set up by researchers in Santa Clara County in California. The study found that the estimated level of novel coronavirus penetration in the county was “50-80% higher” than what had been recorded. If that isn’t enough to terrify every day trader who ratcheted up their exposure heading into the weekend, a news story about another surprising discovery – this time on the East Coast – has...

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an emergency ordinance requiring the city to secure at least 8,250 hotel rooms for three affected groups amid the stay-at-home order, with 7,000 reserved for the city's homeless. In addition to the 7,000 rooms for shielding the city's homeless residents from the coronavirus, the city would provide 500 rooms for discharged hospital patients and 750 for frontline workers. Also, the rooms must be acquired by April 26, according to the ordinance. The city has maintained it will only provide hotel rooms for homeless people in the shelter system and for single-room-occupancy...

LOS ANGELES - To curb the coronavirus spread, Los Angeles has embarked on a massive effort to bring thousands of homeless people off the streets and into hotels to protect them and others from infection. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that money from the federal government would help pay for at least 15,000 hotel rooms during the pandemic. But Los Angeles County, with the state’s largest concentration of homeless people at some 60,000, has set its own goal of 15,000 rooms. “We’re going big in LA,” said Heidi Marston, interim director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority....

Instead, Mayor London Breed and the Human Services Agency came up with the plan to route over 3,000 people currently living in shelters and navigation centers into hotels. The city is planning to put thousands of physically and psychologically sick people into private hotel rooms, in some of the most luxurious hotels in San Francisco—the InterContinental, Mark Hopkins, and The Palace. Occupants would receive three meals per day, hygiene products, and access to nurses. At first glance, the plan appears sensible. The shutdown has devastated the hospitality industry, and hotels stand empty. Filling rooms with guests of any kind is...

First case of Covid-19 on Skid Row has been confirmed: Fears the virus will spread like wildfire through LA's 5,000-strong homeless community who live cramped together on sidewalks with little access to washing facilities

Weeks ago it was clear that the coronavirus presented a unique threat to homeless people who often have underlying conditions that make them more vulnerable than the rest of the population. Cities up and down the west coast have rushed to take emergency measures to get as many people as possible inside, but that has its own risks as shelters are often overcrowded and put ill people a few feet apart from other vulnerable people as they sleep. Now we’re starting to see the first confirmed cases of the virus among the homeless population. In Seattle, four people have...

When Harvard told students to leave its dorms for the rest of the spring term earlier in March, most would have expected that they would be empty until the fall. But if some students have their way, the dorms will soon be filled with a new kind of resident. A petition calling for Harvard to house homeless people in its residential properties has gained serious momentum, having already amassed over 1,000 signatures. The author of the petition, Masters of Divinity candidate at Harvard’s Divinity School Christopher Diak also told The Harvard Crimson that he thought that because “there will be...

NEW ORLEANS — City and state officials worked to finalize plans Wednesday to move homeless people off the streets and fill a 155-room hotel in the Central Business District. The general manager of that hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn-New Orleans French Quarter Downtown on Gravier Street, confirmed the plan was to start moving people in groups of 35 from encampments and house and feed them for the next 30 days, using a mixture of federal, state, local and philanthropic funds. “We have transitioned our hotel into an intake facility,” said hotel general manager Adam Turni told WWL-TV in an exclusive...

Nevada’s governor on Tuesday night issued an emergency order banning gatherings of more than 10 people in the state indoors or outdoors, a more aggressive move to try to stop the spread of the coronavrius. Sisolak said the order does not apply to private homes or the homeless, but includes places like social clubs, parks, libraries and sports fields. The order comes a week after the governor shut down the famous casinos of Las Vegas and ordered all but essential businesses like grocery stores and pharmacies to close. The governor’s new order issued Tuesday banning group gatherings does not apply...

Almost everyone acknowledges that the homeless population is at great risk of coronavirus, but so far as I have been able to determine, nobody is telling us the percentage of the hospitalized cases and the deaths are accounted for by that same population — nationally or in specific locales.  California's Governor Gavin Newsom authorized funding for housing homeless in trailers and hotel rooms, but so far, few of them have taken advantage of the offer. I know we are supposed to have nothing but compassion for the homeless, and my heart breaks for those of them who are not drug-addicted and irresponsible.  But the evidence...

Right before Christmas, Rev. Al Sharpton trashed conservative evangelicals who are backing President Trump. He said "they would take this shameless con man over the principles that they’re preaching. In the holy season as we celebrate Jesus, they would sell Jesus out if they felt they could get something from it." So it was shocking when Al Sharpton opened his MSNBC show this evening by announcing that, in response to his "moral appeal" to the White House, President Trump, "to my surprise," had called him to discuss the compassionate treatment of the homeless and incarcerated in light of the coronavirus...

FORT THOMAS, Ky. -- Dozens of veterans were caught off guard Thursday when they were informed they were being discharged from an inpatient program at the Fort Thomas VA hospital. The domiciliary is being converted for use as an isolation space for COVID-19 patients.

Home to the largest homeless population in the country, California officials are rushing to get tens of thousands of people off the streets and into shelters and tents to slow the spread of the coronavirus among one of the most vulnerable and difficult-to-reach groups.

A group of homeless and housing-insecure Angelenos seized more vacant, publicly owned homes in El Sereno on Wednesday, arguing that government officials have failed to provide the shelter that’s necessary for them to remain healthy during the coronavirus pandemic. The occupation followed a similar takeover Saturday, when two families and a man moved into one of the neighborhood’s dozens of empty homes — all owned by Caltrans. The state agency bought them years ago as part of a now-failed plan to extend the 710 Freeway.

Across the U.S., "preppers" have been planning for an event like the coronavirus for years. Now, as a run-on toilet paper and necessary supplies have created vast lines and panic in our nation's supermarkets and stores, some are able to sit back and relax -- while being humble enough to avoid "I told you so." “We're not laughing. We're not saying, ‘I told you so,' when people are out there fighting over toilet paper and hand sanitizers,” said Ohio resident Paul Buescher.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- As worries about the spread of the coronavirus confine millions of Californians to their homes, concern is growing about those who have no homes in which to shelter. California has more than 150,000 homeless people, the most in the nation, and there's concern that as the rest of the state's residents are being told to stay apart and to frequently wash their hands, the homeless are living just as they did before the outbreak. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said it's possible 60,000 could contract the virus. The governor announced he would spend $150 million on efforts...

Modeling has shown that more than 60,000 homeless people could become ill with the coronavirus in California over the next eight weeks, badly straining the healthcare system, the state governor said on Wednesday.