Freeman Toth can suggest few places for people experiencing homelessness now that the winter shelters have closed and police have started clearing tent sites along Concord’s downtown and near the river. 

For Toth, who leads the county Community Action Program’s housing stabilization and street outreach team, short-term hotel stays can be a last resort option. 

“The decision to hotel someone is solely up to a welfare administrator, and that is kind of an uphill battle for a participant,” Toth said. “There’s nothing fast about it.”

Throughout the pandemic, emergency federal funds established a voucher program that allowed for extended hotel stays. When the money ran out in April 2023, many service providers feared the expiration date came with few alternatives, leaving people experiencing homelessness to seek shelter outside once again.

The city of Concord has continued the practice of paying for hotel stays for some unhoused individuals. The city’s Human Services Department spent just under $250,000 for hotel vouchers across 1,992 nights from April 2023 until the end of 2024, according to records obtained by the Monitor.

In response to a right-to-know request, the city would not disclose the hotels it paid, nor release the number of people assisted, saying state law protects the privacy of people receiving assistance and the interests of the businesses and city government.

While the Monitor sought no names or personal records, the city argued that releasing the names of the hotel chains could be used to “identify the address of recipients receiving aid or assistance.”

Additionally, informing the public runs counter to the interests of the city and the hotels receiving the money, Concord officials maintained.

“The disclosure of the names of commercial landlords and other businesses who are willing to provide temporary/emergency shelter (or more permanent shelter) to individuals in need of assistance could cause substantial harm to the competitive interests of those businesses,” City Solicitor Danielle Pacik wrote to the Monitor. “The City’s Human Services Department has a strong interest in maintaining its relationship with those businesses, and the release of the information could also substantially impair the City’s ability to continue working with and relying on those businesses.”

Steve Duprey, who owns the majority of hotels in downtown Concord, said his properties do not accept assistance vouchers from the city that allow for people experiencing homelessness to spend a few nights indoors.

“We’re not unsympathetic to the problem, but hotels are really not a solution,” he said. “It’s not compatible.”

Duprey, who owns the Courtyard by Marriott, Tru by Hilton, Comfort Inn, Fairfield Inn, Residence Inn and most recently purchased the Holiday Inn, cited concerns about bed bugs, mental health and substance use challenges and disturbances to other guests on the property.

It’s not a new policy, either. He declined to accept vouchers prior to the pandemic, he said.

Toth keeps a short list of properties that have been accommodating.

“There’s a lot of stigma that I have observed with people who are experiencing homelessness and utilizing hotels,” Toth said. “If you pull up to a hotel and your car is filled with stuff and it’s obvious that you’re living in it, they’re not going to rent you a room.”

Someone experiencing homelessness can’t walk into their local welfare office and expect to leave with a voucher for a hotel stay in hand. It’s a process that requires an application, approval and extenuating circumstance, according to Toth.

In a community like Concord, Toth has more “tools” to suggest to clients. Rural areas, with limited access to transportation and shelter, present more hurdles. Concord’s Human Services Director 

Hotel funding is not the only type of emergency housing assistance the city provides. The human services department can also help with the upfront costs people need to secure an apartment, including security deposits, first months rent or payments for outstanding bills.

Hotel payments accounted for just over one-third of all assistance spending from April 2023 through the end of 2024, with roughly $604,000 paid in total for rental and shelter, according to city documents. Last year, the city budget included a $135,000 increase for rental assistance.

Still, there is no lawful place for people to reside in the city who are unhoused, said Toth. After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer, Grants Pass v. Johnson, municipalities are allowed to penalize people for sleeping on public property, despite a lack of available shelter.

Toth has two concrete solutions: Access to medical respite care and a sanctioned camping spot.

These two alternatives would ease costs on municipalities to fund hotel stays and also help law enforcement, social workers and outreach coordinators assist people who are experiencing homelessness.

“I really feel bad for the towns because it is very expensive to pay for hotels, and we have a lot of medically frail people,” he said. “I would love to see us start creating and expanding things like medical respite because it’s not sustainable to put people in hotels.”

As of late, Toth has watched more people be pushed further into the woods seeking shelter. It complicates Toth’s job and that of first responders, who now have to cover more ground and respond to calls in remote locations. And it comes at the expense of taxpayer dollars, shuffling people between encampments, cleaning up past sites and footing the bill for indoor shelter, such as hotels to fill in the gaps.

“People need a lawful place to exist. If they don’t have housing, they just need a lawful, safe, clean place to exist,” said Toth. “We have to do something different as a community because what we have done thus far isn’t working.”

Michaela Towfighi can be reached at mtowfighi@cmonitor.com.