While COVID-19 will spare no one during the global pandemic, homeless populations are at considerable risk due to a lack of access to sanitation resources and an inability to properly distance themselves from others in shelters or camps.
However, the government in Western Australia has a plan to help keep the homeless safe and stop the spread of the disease, asking hotels that have since lost bookings during the pandemic to help out.
As part of a "Hotels with Heart" pilot project, the Pan Pacific will welcome 20 homeless people into its stately rooms.
"The Hotels with Heart pilot learns from similar initiatives happening interstate and around the world, including in the United Kingdom, America and Canada," Western Australia's Community Services Minister Simone McGurk told the Daily Mail. "It demonstrates what can be achieved when there is collaboration across the private, community service and government sectors."
"With the help of community service organisations, this initiative will take the pressure off the health system in Western Australia and potentially help to flatten the curve as the State fights to stop the spread of COVID-19," McGurk continued.
"The Hotels with Heart pilot also aims to sustain our hotel sector for when the COVID‑19 threat is eliminated."
The Pan Pacific wouldn't just house the homeless, but also domestic violence survivors and those with mental health issues, within 120 of its rooms.
According to SBS News, the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project called the Hotels with Heart pilot inadequate, noting that there are more than 200 homeless people just in East, West, and Central Perth.
A series of boxes were painted on the ground in a parking lot in Las Vegas to encourage sleeping at a distance, which has drawn widespread condemnation online from those noting that the city's many hotels are sitting largely empty during the pandemic.
h/t: Daily Mail, SBS News
