LAKE COUNTY, Ohio — After Gov. Mike DeWine issued a stay at home order to all Ohioans in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, those who don’t have a place to call home are struggling to find a safe space to wait out the pandemic.
Project Hope, a nonprofit in Lake County that provides temporary shelter homeless families with no other options, had to decrease the amount of beds it offers to residents.
Going from 50 beds to 30 beds was a tough decision to make, but a necessary one to practice social distancing as much as possible.
"The population we work with is extremely vulnerable. They already enter with compromised immune systems and COPD and diabetes and different medical issues,” said Judy Burr, executive director of Project Hope for the Homeless.
The shelter is trying to raise money to send 55 people in need to a hotel during the stay at home order.
Burr said another struggle brought on by this crisis is a shortage of volunteers, as almost a third of their volunteer force are elderly, who are staying at home.
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