The Community Homelessness Advisory Board voted to move their monthly meetings to once every quarter today. This change comes on as construction of new buildings on the CARES Campus is set to begin in the coming weeks, as part of an overall vision to have more services directly on the compound.
Sparks Council member Kristopher Dahir was the lone holdout saying the region has yet to provide a “path into housing,” for the hundreds and hundreds of unhoused community members.
“We’re missing a component on why this came together, so if this is what we're going to do, I would challenge us to make sure we find another component… We started bringing everyone together to make sure we can … work together, and with that said I think some of that comes with accountability.”
In rebuttal, Washoe County Commissioner Bob Lucey expressed that originally the CHAB meetings were not open to the public and if what Dahir was referring to was adequate communication happening, there were alternative avenues.
“I would say the component you feel is missing is not necessarily having individuals come to a public meeting but having their ability to address it at any time they need, not a set meeting but being able to reach staff immediately to address a situation,” Lucey said.
Earlier in the meeting, Lucey asked Dana Searcy, the Washoe County Housing and Homeless Services Manager, about the ability to address issues to the county via the Washoe County website or other methods to bring up any kind of situation related to the unhoused.
Searcy suggested using the homeless services email address (RegionalHomelessServices@washoecounty.gov) and calling 311, the central hub to access a variety of Washoe County services
Searcy’s presentation on the Cares Campus prior to the vote referred to the compound as a “gigantic ship.” One year in, she said there had been “wear and tear a lot sooner than we thought,” including showers collapsing. Temporary structures are now being bought as replacements. She also admitted to difficulties in finding mental health counsellors to work there.
Reno Council member Neoma Jardon put forth an idea of a possible bulletin that Washoe County could work on for alerting the community about updates on information ranging from the shower situation to the food distribution happening on the campus.
“Those are things that the community at large is interested in, not just this body,” Jardon said. “So I think if there’s a level of understanding and commitment to those sorts of points of interest that are global in nature that get updated and we can all share that with the community, I’m okay with a quarterly meeting,” she said.
Jardon asked about who had applied for the new contract to manage the Cares Campus, but Searcy refused to give any information beyond that there was more than one applicant, and that a decision would be made public soon. People working with the unhoused have told Our Town Reno they believe Karma Box Project will get the new contract to replace Volunteers of America. Karma Box already manages the safe camp component of the compound where people are now moving into ModPods, after tents that were being used were found to be too flimsy for local weather conditions.