Luke Keck, A Reporter's Audio Diary from Covering Homelessness to Coronavirus

My name is Luke Keck, and for the last few months I’ve worked as a reporter for Our Town Reno. I moved to Reno when I was 17 and fresh out of high school. I’m 24 now, and I’m getting ready to finish grad school in the next few weeks. I’ve spent seven years in the city, most of them around the University where I went to school, nestled in the suburban neighborhoods around Kings Row. In the summer of 2019, I moved downtown, and the experience shocked me a little bit because I started to see how many people we’ve left behind as Reno grows and moves forward. Everybody who lives in Reno knows the city is evolving, we’ve heard the speeches from politicians and developers about the new Reno we’re looking to build, and we’ve heard the talking points about housing inequality and homelessness and how it’s a problem that needs to be fixed. And that’s the story we hear, but it’s not the real story. The real stories aren’t told by numbers and statistics, they’re told by the people left without shelter in the shadows of luxury apartment buildings and giant offices, the people who can’t afford rent, the people who were put out on the street after the motel they lived in was torn down. This is an audio diary of me reporting for Our Town Reno, from sleeping by railroad tracks to dealing with coronavirus while on the streets to failed bailout plans for small businesses.