Homelessness people around the world are perhaps the most affected by the coronavirus pandemic because they have no place to shelter or how to comply with the social distance measures imposed by the authorities.
Because they are under the open sky, they are fined by the police. In addition, they have no where or who to give them some food, as long as the help centers are closed. Some of them have pre-existing respiratory problems, and COVID-19 infection becomes fatal.
Images of homeless people sleeping in a Las Vegas parking lot, transformed into a makeshift shelter, have sparked waves of criticism over the internet, even though city officials describe the situation as an “emergency” and say this was the solution. better, after another shelter with a capacity of 500 beds was closed, against the background of the coronavirus crisis, reports The Guardian.
For the people of the street, the authorities arranged the sleeping places at a distance of about two meters from each other, thus respecting the federal measures of social distance.
In order to keep people from sleeping directly on the tarmac, officials offered them blue carpets, which, according to the statements, can be easier to clean.
Las Vegas city spokesman Jace Radke said the city and the entire region were working to open the temporary shelter after Catholic charities closed and the city’s other shelter, the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center, was filled until refuse it.
The problem of homelessness becomes a real crisis in southern Nevada, where at least 6,500 people live on the streets or in canals.
After the arrangement of the shelter in the parking lot of the Cashman Center – a place dedicated to soccer competitions, the negative reactions to the authorities did not cease to appear.
“After street living became a crime this year, Las Vegas packs people in pieces of concrete left under the open sky”, wrote Julián Castro, former mayor of San Antonio and secretary for social issues in the Barack administration, on Twitter. Obama. “There are 150,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas that are not in use now. How about public-private cooperation to temporarily accommodate them there? And do not forget to finance permanent housing!” Said Castro, quoted by The Guardian.
Understand, this is an emergency. People will always criticize. But we work to ensure that vulnerable people can get the resources they need”, said Radke.
Lawyers, but also the inhabitants of the shelter have warned that poor hygiene and inhumane conditions do not help fight the spread of coronavirus.
