Miami-Dade is moving elderly residents out of homeless shelters and into hotels

With Florida’s tourism industry paralyzed during the coronavirus pandemic, Miami-Dade is securing hundreds of hotel rooms to ease crowding at homeless shelters and also give healthcare workers a place to sleep between shifts. Ronald Book, chairman of the board that oversees Miami-Dade’s homeless agency, said the county may move more than 150 older residents from residential facilities across Miami-Dade. Already, nearly 50 are being moved out of the Chapman centers in Miami and Homestead as a precaution against spread in those two county-funded facilities. He said a staffer at the Miami Chapman center tested positive for COVID-19, raising the alarm of an outbreak there. Book said the aim is to move all elderly people out of homeless facilities across the county, as well as people in that age group living without shelter.