MORE The LA Grand Hotel Downtown is the largest Project Roomkey site in the state sheltering nearly 500 unhoused people. Photo by Anna Scott. As the COVID-19 swept the U.S. in early 2020, cities across California participated in a statewide program called Project Roomkey to rent out hotels as temporary shelter for medically vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. LA officials also aimed to use the initiative and its one-time funding as a springboard to permanent housing for tens of thousands of unhoused people. Project Roomkey is scheduled to end by September 30, and some participants argue it hasn’t lived up to its promises.