"Today we have an opportunity with all of these vacant hotel rooms to provide safe and secure housing and support for those who have been living on the streets in San Francisco," said a protester.
People held signs and honked from their cars while police looked on and trucks began to unload material to house the homeless.
The US set a new record for the number of COVID-19 deaths in one day with 1,480 dead, the most of any country since the pandemic began. That topped the record set by the US the previous day with 1,169 deaths.
More than 57,000 people have died from COVID-19 since it was first detected late last year.