As the sixth largest hotel market in the U.S., Los Angeles offers 1,008 hotels with more than 98,600 hotel rooms. Los Angeles is also home to hundreds of roadside motels, which are used as short term residences and last resort housing options for our most vulnerable populations, who live on the verge of homelessness.

Project Roomkey

During the COVID-19 public health crisis, California Governor Gavin Newsom, in partnership with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and local governments kickstarted the “Project Roomkey” initiative in April 2020 – a first of its kind program in which the federal agency would reimburse state and local governments up to 75 percent of the costs of the rooms, including services such as meals and security and custodial services, for three months (source).

Within a week of launching, over 250 Los Angeles hotels volunteered more than 20,000 rooms for individuals experiencing homelessness, victims of domestic violence, elderly people and medical personnel.