California cities and counties might be on the hook for more than $300 million they spent placing thousands of homeless residents in hotels in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, local officials made the unprecedented move under the impression that the federal government would reimburse much of their cost for offering shelter, without time limits, to unhoused people at elevated risk of severe symptoms.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency says that they were mistaken and that the agency had only agreed to pay for hotel stays of up to 20 days. Now, concerned members of the California delegation want answers. A Monday letter by Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), signed by 34 other Democratic members and one Republican — Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), asks FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell to reconsider and reimburse cities that are already strapped for cash. 'We’re talking about the single largest loss of life event that we’ve had to go through in over a generation,' Garcia sai