Laguna Hills Inn Will Host Coronavirus Sickened Homeless

LAGUNA HILLS, CA — South Orange County will house transients infected with the coronavirus, Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Delany decided, Monday. The Laguna Hills Inn was selected for the state and federal program, Project Roomkey, which asks each county to identify suitable locations to house sick homeless in isolation.

While the Laguna Hills city attorney asked for a temporary restraining order and argued in court that the county could not override CC&Rs, Delaney says he did not make the decision lightly.

"Even in an emergency, people do not give up their constitutional rights," Delaney said. It is a "careful balancing" to address the emergency and the constitutional rights of each person.
Orange County CEO Frank Kim told City News Service late Monday morning that the judge's ruling clears the way to move transients into the hotel right away.

There are currently three transients at Mission Hospital who were waiting to be quarantined at the hotel, Kim said. They had yet to check in because of the Laguna Hills lawsuit.

After continuing the case from last week, Delaney decided that California's emergency declaration supersedes covenants, conditions, restrictions, and reservations of easements, or CC&Rs, that would bar a change in the use of the Laguna Hills Inn on Avenida de la Carlotta.

The onus was on Orange County's CEO to pick a hotel on a list given to him by state officials. That list "turned out to be very limited," according to Kim. "It is a never-ending challenge," finding a hotel owner willing to do business with the county housing transients. Earlier this month, the city of Laguna Woods argued heavily against the program at their primarily 55-and-over community.

Kim also said that his staff has told him that a requirement to clear the CC&R conditions would "disrupt the whole program statewide and cause unnecessary delay and complications to this short-term emergency use of facilities, including hotels."

There are three transients with COVID-19 from Mission Hospital who have been recommended to quarantine at the hotel, but they had not been able to check in because of the lawsuit, Kim said.

Kevin Akash, president of the Laguna Hills Inn's owner, Elite Hospitality Inc., said in court papers that he is "proud to work with the county of Orange" on Project Roomkey.

"Elite agreed to participate in Project Roomkey because it was the right thing to do," Akash said. "We want to do everything we can to help our community during this time of crisis. By providing temporary lodging to those in need, we will allow them to isolate, stem the spread of the COVID-19 and lessen the impact on local hospitals and on our community as a whole."

Akash said the hotel is "uniquely well-situated" for the program because it is next to the freeway on a major thoroughfare, is in an industrial and commercial area far from homes and is close to four area hospitals. Most of the neighboring businesses are closed at this time, he noted.

County officials say the hotels, including one in Orange and another in Stanton, will be lockdown facilities with private security preventing the participants from coming and going. A fence has been erected around the property, as well.

City News Service, Patch Staffer Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.

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