CNN: Las Vegas homeless people are sleeping in a parking lot -- six feet apart

[LKJ86]

Las Vegas homeless people are sleeping in a parking lot -- six feet apart
By Alicia Lee, CNN
Updated 8:03 PM ET, Mon March 30, 2020
Source:https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/us/coronavirus-las-vegas-homeless-cashman-center-trnd/index.html

People rest at a temporary homeless shelter at Cashman Center in Las Vegas on Sunday, March 29.

(CNN) In Las Vegas, the Catholic Charities' homeless shelter has long served as a facility for people in need of accommodations.

But after one homeless man who used the facility tested positive for coronavirus last week, the shelter was forced to close, leaving 500 homeless people scrambling for a new place to stay. Even Courtyard Homeless Resource Center, a nearby open-air facility, was unable to take in more people as it was almost at capacity.

So City of Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada officials decided to create a makeshift homeless shelter -- in the parking lot of Cashman Center.

Over the weekend, the parking lot of the center, which is normally a convention and baseball stadium complex, transformed into a sleeping space with help from volunteers.

But the sleeping arrangements ignited some backlash on Monday, after an image of homeless people circulated across social media. In the photo, a handful of people are seen lying in white boxes painted on the concrete floor -- six feet apart to enforce social distancing.

Initial plans involved carpet
On Saturday, setting up the temporary shelter went smoothly.

About 50 volunteers laid out 24,000 square feet of carpet to create sleeping mats, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Nearly a dozen medical students from Touro University Nevada helped screen incoming guests, and took their temperatures.

"I'm about to cry," Denise Lankford, a homeless woman, told CNN affiliate KLAS. "This right here is helping us feel secure, feel safe. Other places, you don't feel safe."

The first night the shelter opened, 66 people slept there. But officials started to realize that the carpet could be more harmful than beneficial.

Backlash over 'horrid' sleeping arrangements
On Sunday, the amount of homeless people seeking shelter at the facility grew to 117.

Officials decided to swap out the carpet for concrete floor, and painted white boxes six feet apart from one another for homeless people to sleep in. The hope was to enforce social distancing, and prevent further spread of the coronavirus.

However, after pictures emerged of the new sleeping arrangements, many on social media criticized city officials.

"Horrid! Evidence of a failed society that cannot provide for its citizens the most basic of human needs," one Twitter user wrote.

"Las Vegas is putting homeless people in parking lots while the city's hotels are completely empty. For some reason, this photo sums up for me everything that is wrong with this country & its response to the COVID-19 crisis," another Twitter user said.

Riggleman said the city and Clark County are doing the best they can to deal with a situation that was thrust upon them when Catholic Charities closed its facility.

"I think our entire country has seen the fact that we can't manage this situation that we are in," Riggleman said. "It's not just the homeless. This has overwhelmed our resources everywhere and I think everybody is doing the best they can."

Plans to reopen Catholic Charities homeless shelter
When asked why the actual Cashman Center wasn't used to temporarily house the homeless, Riggleman said the building was reserved for overflow hospital space.

He also said Catholic Charities plans to open its shelter by mid-week, at which point the temporary shelter will close.

Despite the recent criticism, Riggleman said he was proud of the fact that "so many people stepped in to help."

Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly expressed similar gratitude toward community members who volunteered.

"We needed a solution to this problem quickly," Weekly said in a news release. "And I want to thank everyone involved for their hard work so that our homeless population has a place to sleep tonight."

 

[Pakistan Space Agency]

Why does it look like they're sleeping in their own graves?

 

[ApparentRaceTraitor]

Las Vegas is putting homeless people in parking lots while the city's hotels are completely empty

Hotels as private entities are not obligated to provide accommodations in times like these. Not for a lack of humanity, but the fallout from the end of the pandemic. First they will most likely trash the rooms, discover areas of access unauthorized to them, and will most likely cause significant trouble when the time comes to leave. Homeless people are nothing but trouble for most part, especially the ones who refuse to help themselves.

And front line hotel staff are not paid enough to deal with them.

However I'm sure an exception can be made for the orange clown's hotels.

 

[PurpleButcher]

Had it been China which made its homeless sleep like this, damn the world would have behaved much much differently!

 

[riscol]

The homeless people in the US are definitely going to be infected by this pandemic. Consider to be lucky if some of them managed to survive. In China the infected were all put inside those mobile quarantine rooms with world class facilities available to them. In America they would just tell the homeless and most likely infected to sleep on the floor in a parking lot.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

The homeless people in the US are definitely going to be infected by this pandemic. Consider to be lucky if some of them managed to survive. In China the infected were all put inside those mobile quarantine rooms with world class facilities available to them. In America they would just tell the homeless and most likely infected to sleep on the floor in a parking lot.

Idiot, go look in your own backyard first before opening your mouth.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/26/how-can-germans-stay-home-if-they-are-homeless
How Can Germans ‘Stay at Home’ If They Are Homeless?
COVID-19 Is A Double Blow to People Living on the Streets

The queues are getting longer outside the soup kitchen for homeless people behind the Berlin Zoo railway station. Since the coronavirus reached Germany, the center closed its doors and now staff and volunteers serve people through a window to the street. But the daily need for sandwiches and hot drinks is growing.

“There are more people coming, they are in a worse state and need more help,” says Willi Nadolny, head of the center, known as the Bahnhofsmission Zoo.

People experiencing homelessness, wherever they are, are among the vulnerable groups most at risk in the coronavirus crisis. Many have underlying medical and mental health conditions and have nowhere to go to protect themselves or even just to wash their hands.

“How do you ‘stay at home’ when you are homeless?” Nadolny asks.

As a regular volunteer at Bahnhofsmission Zoo, I usually see it full of people getting lunch, picking up donated clothes, or talking with social workers. But now these services are reduced or shut, to protect not only the guests, but also the volunteers, many of whom are older people and therefore vulnerable to the virus.

Berlin has around 6,000 homeless people, and coronavirus is a double blow to many. The empty streets mean fewer opportunities to earn a little money by selling newspapers or making music. And homeless initiatives, like Bahnhofsmission Zoo, have cut back or closed.

The Berlin city government has emergency plans to accommodate 350 homeless people in a former youth hostel and elsewhere, including access to washing facilities and medical and psychological advice. But this is not enough to meet everyone’s needs.

Elsewhere in Europe, the lockdowns to limit the virus have raised concerns over police handling of homeless people. Restrictions on going outside, which took effect in Germany this week, have to take into account the needs of such vulnerable groups.

Yet people are pulling together to help. Near my home two “donation fences” have opened this week, where locals hang bags of basic supplies that can be picked up by homeless people. “Despite all the problems, there are new kinds of solidarity emerging, which is great,” concludes Nadolny.