Local Voices
Opponents Slam Plan To Turn Millbrae Hotel Into Homeless Housing
Angered that the county never consulted them, city leaders and community members protested outside the hotel on Friday.
MILLBRAE — When the pandemic hit, the state began placing homeless people in unused hotels under a program called Project Homekey. The program still exists as one of the state options to create transitional housing but a plan to purchase a hotel in Millbrae for that purpose has raised the ire of many residents.
The La Quinta hotel on El Camino Real serves travelers arriving at nearby SFO. Owners say it's no longer a profitable enterprise and there is a plan to sell it to San Mateo County for use as permanent housing — part of an initiative called "Functional Zero Homelessness." County executive officer Mike Callagy sprang the idea on the community at Tuesday's council meeting.
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"We need to offer people the dignity and respect of having their own doorbell, their own doorknob, their own roof over their head, their own opportunity to take a shower in private. That's why we started buying hotels," Callagy said. "You have wrap-around services, they will have leases, they will be permanent residents. They will be shopping here, they will be working here, they will be part of the community here."
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