Hotel, Motel, Holiday Win

Giving someone a night in a warm place with a bed, electricity, access to a bathroom and a hot shower can make a world of difference when it comes to restoring a person’s dignity and sense of belonging. Which is why it was so frustrating when we couldn’t book a room at a hostel for an unhoused man named Tyrel last month. Enter the discovery of LA’s cash only motels.

I met a woman named Jeannette in early October. She’d recently been evicted and was trying to get enough money to cover the cost of her motel for the night. At the time I was still in the process of launching DBT, but I knew I wanted to help. I went to an ATM, pulled out the amount she needed and dropped her off at the cash motel she’d been staying in. In the morning I returned with enough to cover an additional night, in the hope that she’d have time to job hunt without having to worry about covering the next night.

After launching Do Better Together, cash motels didn’t seem like a viable option at first. What was attractive about something like a hostel was the ability to pay with the nonprofit’s debit card, where there would be a clear record of how much was spent where. But prejudicial policies aside, that came with a whole slew of additional issues. Liability for damage to the unit or an individual’s refusal to vacate, to name a couple.

Jeanette reached out again in late November, asking for enough to cover a different cash-only-motel on the other side of the city. It was just before Thanksgiving, so with my 8 year old in tow, I drove through the eastbound traffic to cover Jeanette for two additional nights. In her case it was clear that this was unsustainable. She was housing insecure (as opposed to unhoused), and all of her time was dedicated to standing at grocery stores and street corners to cover the nightly cost. So in addition to covering these two nights, we set her up with the resources she and her partner needed to find a room for rent on Craigslist.

But it later dawned on me that we could use cash-only-motels to provide a temporary reprieve for those without housing. If a person has ID, they can rent a room in their own name, and DBT can foot the bill and get a copy of the receipt. It isn’t a permanent fix by any stretch of the imagination. But for many it’s an important step on the path to reintegration in their community.

More recently, we were able to provide several nights at a cash motel for a gentleman that had lost access to interim housing following a stay in a Medi-Cal recuperative care facility.