More money and new leadership to help the unhoused, but where are the blankets and towels?

As the baton has officially been passed to Washoe County to take on leadership for helping our unhoused neighbors in northern Nevada, and American Rescue Plan funds are already being applied to these endeavors, advocates and those without stable shelter are still having major concerns about the Nevada Cares Campus. The official line has been more or less, “it’s a work in progress,” and we are getting money for future phases to get more people into housing. Another official line has been “it’s better than what we were offering before.” But is it? People who used to stay at the Record St. shelter and now stay at the campus have told us it’s even more crammed than before. They say it feels even more like a prison, with too much security fencing and too many guards, even as thefts are allegedly rampant. They say the staff is just as overworked, and that the food is just as unhealthy. They say meetings with case workers are few and far in between. They say new laundry machines broke down quickly, and that there aren’t enough towels for showering or blankets for the bunk beds at night. With millions already spent, was the budgeting done correctly?

Above is a graphic shared on social media by City Councilman Devon Reese. Advocates have said they want to focus on what’s already available, while Reese has more or less responded the future plans will be part of improvements.

Months ago, Our Town Reno asked to spend a day with staff at the Cares Campus to report about their own perspectives and challenges, but the person we were in contact with, after ignoring the query, has now retired. Turnover is reported to be very high at all levels. This week, we also emailed the county’s Homeless services program specialist, and other upper level staff at Volunteers of America about current concerns, but still no response. Advocates who are working tirelessly to try to improve conditions at the campus, with ideas such as bookshelves and board games, are reporting tense interactions with guards and operators. Hundreds of people sleeping there come out seeking water, healthy meals and other necessities when these are brought over by volunteers. This makes us wonder, again, if the contracts to current operators to run the campus and the nearby safe camp will be renewed, for how long, and under what criteria.

One of our features this week was about one of the advocates helping so many, Jessica Castro (right in above picture). You can also hear her in her own words on the Our Town Reno podcast.

Castro herself was unhoused and survived atrocious trauma, but has rebounded as a local powerhouse to help those unsheltered, from social media, to public comments, to protests, to direct action. The tee-shirt she wore when we took photos of one of her many outreach gatherings read “Together we are one.”

We had another double feature / podcast episode about people evacuated from the Caldor fire now staying at the Reno Sparks Convention Center. One of those we interviewed said he too felt “homeless” in the Biggest Little City, after being forced out of his home, without a car and without much money.

The affordability crisis, added to the looming eviction crisis, the ongoing sweeps, the pandemic with still new variants and Mother Earth’s revenge climate change are making life difficult for many of us in this topsy turvy world where the light still shines from those still helping each other out.

We also featured Seniors in Service, a local non profit which has been helping seniors combat loneliness with technology. Our Ideas for Progress series had an entry about how Covid-era relief programs have actually reduced poverty, especially among children, to historic lows, and wonders why we shouldn’t keep doing more of that, such as the oncoming expansion of SNAP benefits.