Detroit opens 124-room homeless facility, eyes street care amid COVID-19

Detroit this week opened a 124-room building to house Detroit’s homeless amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, officials plan to deploy health care professionals onto city streets to seek out homeless individuals who don’t make it into a shelter.

The city previously was set to use a Salvation Army facility with a little over 35 beds to act as an isolation option for the homeless population. Instead, the city opened the 124-room building, under contract with Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, on Tuesday, said Arthur Jemison, group executive of housing, planning, and development for Detroit.

The city began looking at the change to better accommodate the size of Detroit’s homeless population, Donald Rencher, director of the Detroit Housing and Revitalization Department, previously said.

Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2020/03/19/coronavirus-covid-19-homeless-facility/2880107001/