Kentucky mayor tells hotel not to rent rooms to homeless as coronavirus spreads
The mayor of a Northern Kentucky city has told a hotel that it could not rent rooms to more than 40 homeless people because it was a public health hazard and a possible zoning violation.
According to emails obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader, SpringHill Suites near the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport was willing to rent more than 20 rooms to a group of homeless providers looking to house more than 40 homeless people who were staying temporarily at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center.
But the agreement with the convention center was only for 15 days, and the homeless providers needed to find alternative housing by Saturday.
According to the emails from the hotel, Florence Mayor Diane Whalen heard that SpringHill was about to move forward with renting the rooms and asked it to stop.
“After speaking with Mayor Whalen, there are concerns of zoning violations for the hotel. And furthermore, the safety of first responders and the citizens of Florence during the shelter at home declaration,” according to a Wednesday email from a regional manager of the company that oversees SpringHill Suites in Florence.
Whalen said Monday that she asked SpringHill not to do business with the nonprofits because the city already had too many homeless people staying in Florence hotels, which created a public safety concern. Whalen said the city only became aware that homeless providers from other areas of the state and Cincinnati had placed homeless clients in Florence hotels after there were several emergency calls to those hotels.
“We have been told that there are between 80-100 already being housed at a local hotel,” Whalen wrote in an email. “Because there has been no communication, it is unclear what the long-term plans are and how the individuals and the entire community would comply with the state orders and the Kentucky Department of Public Health guidance.”
Whalen said she also has concerns that housing homeless people in hotels could run afoul of zoning regulations.
“The easy answer is that this is outside of the current zoning code and uses such as ‘transitional housing’ has its own definition,” Whalen said. “The larger answer during these unprecedented times is that communication and planning are key to protecting not only the community being housed under one roof in a hotel where large gatherings beyond their rooms is not permitted, but also the larger community where an influx of large numbers of people from a different location can potentially further spread the virus.”
Whalen said protecting first responders is also paramount during the coronavirus outbreak.
“Any increase in police or medical runs increases both the need for (personal protection equipment), which is in limited supply, but also their exposure to the virus,” Whalen said. “If we can’t protect our first responders, we can’t protect our community.”
Art Crosby, executive director of the Lexington Fair Housing Council, which represents clients statewide in housing discrimination cases, says the council is investigating Whalen’s actions. Under the federal Fair Housing Act, homeless people cannot be discriminated against.
“We have become aware of it and we are opening a case to look at it,” Crosby said. The homeless providers were going to pay SpringHill for the rooms, he said. Those homeless clients are not any different under the law than other paying guests.
Florence and Boone County have no homeless shelters.
Meanwhile, the consortium of nonprofits that housed people at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center has found another hotel willing to rent rooms for more than 40 people, according to a written release.
“Welcome House will spend more than $12,000 per week for the 42 hotel rooms – injecting much-needed revenue into the facility, which is now empty” according to a written release. Welcome House, a Covington-based nonprofit, is one of many nonprofits that have stepped up to find additional housing for the Northern Kentucky homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic. The release did not say where the hotel is located.
Welcome House and Northern Kentucky Emergency Shelter, another Covington-based homeless provider, will staff the hotel, the release said. Other groups and local restaurants have agreed to pay or provide meals three times a day. Welcome House is footing the bill for the hotel rooms until May 4. It’s relying on private donations to do so. To make a donation or to help with costs go to: www.welcomehouseky.org/make-donation.
“It is amazing and inspiring to see Northern Kentucky come together like this to take care of our homeless citizens,” said Welcome House CEO Danielle Amrine. “This is what’s possible when we all work as a team.”
Homelesss providers across the state have scrambled over the past month to find additional housing for the homeless during the COVID-19 outbreak. Most are relying on private donations and razor-thin reserves to pay for those services. In a letter to Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday, homeless providers across the state asked Beshear to set aside some federal coronavirus relief money for homeless shelters that have born the brunt of the cost to house the more than 4,000 homeless Kentuckians during the outbreak.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 11:16 AM.
