Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the YMCA and other nonprofits across the U.S. have been on the frontlines of response and recovery. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented immense challenges for so many, including our most vulnerable populations. When the stay-at-home orders were issued, not everyone had a place to call home or a place to go to get well, but the Y was able to provide that for individuals experiencing homelessness.

In order to provide shelter for so many, our shelter and housing teams quickly devised plans to stand up safe and socially distant emergency shelters, allowing our guests to have more space without sacrificing our capacity. Among the new shelters, a Shelter, Isolation and Quarantine facility was launched in partnership with a variety of local organizations to provide people who tested positive for COVID-19 while relying on care in a congregate housing setting with a safe place to recover. The person may have been living in one of the YMCA's shelters for those experiencing homelessness, or else a fellow agency’s halfway home after completing a prison sentence or residential treatment program to battle addiction. But here, they have a room of their own and extra help to get well.

Facility guests stay connected to whatever social services they were part of before checking in, plus receive on-site healthcare from Lower Lights Christian Health Center. We ensure their physical safety and coordinate relationships with other agencies to ensure their only priority is getting well soon.

The Y not only fills gaps and provides services for individuals experiencing homelessness, it also provides case management to individuals to help them stay stably housed.