The Scramble at the Campus

As the Nevada Cares Campus staggers its opening, it’s been a scramble for those inside to get into housing, and for volunteers trying to help them. We’ve heard from one elderly man desperately trying to get out his bunk bed and into the new legal safe camp on site. He might have to wait until they expand from the current pilot phase of 44 tents to a planned 100 in a few months, as the initial list, he’s been told, is already full. He has a case manager but says he only gets to meet with her once a week. Outside the compound, he’s trying to get into either the Hope Springs bridge housing community, but he’s heard the next two available spots there are for women, or into the Village on Sage Street, but it seems full there as well, as he’s been waiting for weeks with no satisfying answer. Meanwhile, he says he’s been on the Reno Housing Authority waiting list for two years and counting now.

There was a sweep this week just a few yards away from the security entrance of the campus, where people were moved away from sidewalk areas. Those we talked to said they wanted to get into the legal safe camp if they could but not into the massive sprung structure, saying they didn’t do well in big crowds. This includes Liz we featured this week. The tent camp though is admitting new people only at a trickle. The much talked about initiative is off to a slow start. We’ve asked for a tour but, after an initial email response which sounded promising, haven’t heard back. A few small tents are now lined up close together on asphalt, crammed between fences. Volunteers have been able to serve healthy food and liquids outside the compound, and have been told they can brink books too now. They say they’ve been told no on board games or clothes, even though any form of entertainment is sorely lacking at the compound, and the absence of washing machines has made it difficult for those staying there.

We published three other feature stories this week, one a behind the scenes picture series on a local jewelry maker , a profile of the “witchy” Coyote Supply Co., and the third a review on architectural changes in Reno. Our podcast episode was the audio version of our interview with Michelle Hamilton advocating locally for a carbon tax to save the environment.