Recently we learned that several folks in Project Roomkey sites across LA have NOT been getting fed food or have been receiving next to none food assistance. Many folks report not having eaten for days and feeling sick from hunger.  In fact, they received more food while living on the streets than in their hotel rooms!

Text message received from a person in a Project Roomkey site whose hunger was so severe it made them physically ill.

If you're not familiar with Project Roomkey, it was originally implemented in the beginning of the pandemic to provide our most vulnerable neighbors protection from catching covid-19. Participants were offered a hotel room to shelter in. Sounds good right? But since it began, serious failures quickly came to light. Besides people not getting fed, oftentimes people have to surrender their keys to their room to the front desk every time they leave, have to abide by a curfew or risk getting kicked out, can only bring a limited amount of belongings, and some won't allow bringing pets or other family members (WTF). Some rooms are even stripped of all their amenities, like coffee makers and any wall art. Worst yet, people are often kicked back out on the street for no reason at all. Rather than connecting folks to permanent supportive housing, people are given a temporary stay for a few weeks or months and then returned to the street.

Project Roomkey could be good... if the state treated unhoused folks with the dignity and respect. Feed people, it's not that hard! People in Project Roomkey sites are some of the most vulnerable Angelenos, but without any access to food, they are forced to panhandle on the street and do whatever they can to survive.

How We Showed Up for Our Community:
To fight back against this injustice, this week we partnered with Hunger Action LA and Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid to host a small event at a local Project Roomkey site. We served meals recovered from events, apple cider, homemade donuts, and homemade brownies. Hunger Action LA helped to connect folks to Cal-fresh benefits (aka food stamps), so folks could at least have some sort of consistent food source. We also had a service provider provide free Obama phones to people. Volunteers went door to door at 2 local Project Roomkeys and a local encampment to hand out meals and tell folks about the event. Altogether, we served 85 meals and had about 25 people stop by our table.

Some of our recovered meals: chicken quesadilla with couscous & veggies!

To get involved in our next Project Roomkey event, send us an email at [email protected]. You can also support us by donating money so we can buy to-go supplies and beverages for the event!