What happened when California tried to fix its homelessness crisis as the pandemic arrived

Nine months since Project Roomkey launched, some say the program's success has varied regionally and only fraction of those in need received help amid a pandemic

Before the coronavirus even reached the US, California was already in the midst of a public health crisis.

By March 2020, the Golden State's homeless population made up more than a quarter of unhoused people in America. Nearly three-quarters of the more than 150,000 homeless people in the state were living unsheltered, oftentimes hard on the streets in encampments that seemed to pop up in cities from north to south.