Late last year, Carver County joined forces with a Super 8 motel in Chaska to shelter 9 homeless households through the winter. The contract was supposed to run through April. Then COVID-19 happened. "We saw a need not to end shelter, but to ramp up shelter even more," said Jen Romero, the county's housing unit supervisor. "Because how do people stay at home if they have no home?" Within the past couple months, all 7 metro counties have expanded existing agreements or entered into new contracts with hotels to provide emergency shelter to homeless individuals and families who either have COVID-19 or need a safe place to quarantine.
