To house the homeless during crisis, Alameda County will lease 2 hotels

With staggering numbers of homeless individuals in Oakland and across Alameda County, and a shelter in place order issued last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Alameda County supervisors on Tuesday morning are likely to approve proposals to lease two Oakland hotels at a cost of more than $3.2 million through the end of April.

The proposed lease agreements on Tuesday’s Alameda County Board of Supervisors agenda call for the county to use the Comfort Inn & Suites and the Radisson Hotel Oakland Airport, both on Edes Avenue, and near the Oakland Coliseum, to temporarily house the homeless during the crisis.

Under the proposed agreement, the county would take possession of the hotels through April 30, and potentially on a day-by-day basis afterwards, if the shelter in place remains.

The 289-room Radisson Hotel Oakland Airport will cost $2.4 million to lease from Mar. 16 through the end of April, according to a county staff report. If the hotel space is still needed, the rate becomes $53,744 a day.

The 109-room Comfort Inn & Suites will be leased to the county for $870,480 during the same time frame, and $19,344 a day thereafter, according to a county staff report.

The county is also seeking to acquire the Model 6 hotel, also on Edes Avenue, in addition, to an assisted-living facility at 4600 Fairfax Avenue in Oakland.

Based on Newsom’s declaration of a state emergency in response to the coronavirus outbreak, the county will be eligible for federal reimbursements of up to 75 percent of the costs of the leases, the county said.

In a separate item on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will authorize repayment to seven Alameda County cities for their efforts to improve sanitation at homeless encampments. The entire proposed allocation is $76,464, including $4,248 for unincorporated Alameda County.

The lion’s share of the allocation goes to Oakland, with $42,480; Fremont, $8,496; Hayward, $6,372; Emeryville, Livermore, and San Leandro, $4,248; and Alameda, $2,124.