As snow fell in Twentynine Palms last night (February 22), the City Council rented hotel rooms to provide warm shelter for unhoused people in the community. Money raised through the city’s transient occupancy tax has been used to rent rooms at the American Best Value Inn Twentynine Palms for thirteen people beginning last night and until Sunday morning (February 26).
The hotel rooms are being paid for by funds raised by the transient occupancy tax ,which are fees added to vacation rentals within city limits. These funds were earmarked by the Twentynine Palms City Council for general housing, and the Council decided to use these funds to provide shelter for unhoused people currently living within city limits.
Outreach to the unhoused community, along with placement into the reserved hotel rooms, was conducted by Morongo Basin ARCH, a non-profit organization dedicated to tackling homelessness in the Hi Desert.
City officials acknowledged that this is not a long term solution for the area’s unhoused people, but hope that these warm hotel rooms can provide comfort to many during a particularly challenging weekend.
