Project Roomkey, Governor Gavin Newsom’s initiative that turned hotel and motel rooms across the state into temporary shelters for the homeless during the height of the covid pandemic, is the subject of a recent independent evaluation.

The goal of this report is to figure out if Project Roomkey was successful in providing the protection and services it promised. What did it get right, what did it get wrong, and is there a way to take the lessons learned and apply them to today?

We’re going to start our conversation by taking a closer look at the findings of this evaluation with Nichole Fiore, principal associate with the research firm Abt Global and co-author of the report.

Then for another perspective, we turn to Sarah Hunter, Director at the RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness and Senior Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation.

You can check out the Project Roomkey evaluation at Abt Global’s website, just type in Project Roomkey in the search bar.