Whatever Happened To? Delayed Local Plans to Ease Housing Crisis and Homelessness

Long Delays at the Village on Sage Street and Hope Springs

Signups are reportedly still ongoing for the $400 “Village on Sage Street” dorms. The all-inclusive living space for applicants making at least $1,300 per month seems far from finished though at this point.

What about the new “tiny home village” planned right next to it? Articles had said “Hope Springs” as it’s being called would have their first residents by the end of 2018. Their webpage as seen below from a recent screengrab remains a call for private donations.  

Much Touted Projects Extremely Slow to Become Reality while Displacing More

While there are glowing articles surrounding future projects when they are announced and buzzwords such as “village” and “tiny” to address the affordable housing crisis, the fight on blight, downtown decay and homelessness, which projects actually materialize? It seems matters are getting worse, not better, and that the pre-election sense of urgency is gone.

Jacobs Entertainment keeps trying to acquire more lots, even as some owners such as at the Gold ’N Silver Inn, the Desert Rose Inn or HBM Technology Partners, patiently wait for better offers.

In the absence of any new development or announcing plans, what Jacobs Entertainment has done so far is reduce the number of motel rooms, which many rely on when they can’t afford first and last month deposits, or pass credit checks, or don’t want to deal with utility and other bills.

We are still awaiting the grandiose Jacobs Entertainment development plan, which for now has led to many empty, dusty lots, with just some renovation inside the still standing former Crest Inn, but no indication yet on how much the new “Renova Flats” will go for. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno from inside a former Crest Inn room turning into the Renova Flats.

What about the Family Shelter Campus, Granny Flats and Reno Works?

What about the renovation of buildings at the Nevada Adult Mental Health Services campus in Sparks? The plan is to move homeless women and families there from the main homeless shelter on Record street, but a plan of that happening early this year now seems highly unlikely.

Meanwhile, long winded efforts failed last year to allow homeowners to build so-called granny flats or accessory dwelling units on 9,000 square feet or plus properties in most neighborhoods.  A subsequent effort to not allow these backyard units in historic downtown neighborhoods, but to go ahead elsewhere also failed. 

Finally, in October 2018, articles celebrated the 10th graduation of the Reno Works program, with reports that 65 people in all have graduated from the program since its inception. But is there follow through on how these 65 people are faring and if the program works?  Have there been audits on how much money is spent on Reno Works and if it does work well? That would be an interesting study, but has it been conducted?  

What is known as we begin 2019, is that there are many projects still unfulfilled, many lots turned to dust and a growing housing and shelter crisis.

Op-Ed by Our Town Reno in January 2019

J.D., Mourning His Father and His Broken Family

Feeling Disconnected

J.D. says he’s from a broken family and that he’s never recovered from facing his father’s death without the support of his relatives.

“That's the reason why a lot of people are homeless because there's broken families, they're fighting each other, brothers and sisters are fighting each other,” he said. “Wives and husbands are fighting with each other. That's what's going on right now in life. That's the reason I'm homeless because my family is dysfunctional…. broken….”

He tried to rebound with odd jobs for older people, raking leaves, helping with yard work, but he says he has had fewer and fewer opportunities.

“Like if somebody needs help, I do it for free, but sometimes they give me something, a little pocket change and I take it because I do need it but I don't ask or beg for it. They just give it to me out of their own heart.”

J.D. says he prefers to keep his belongings with him at all times. “I have food and clothes because I'm living outside. I have everything that keeps me warm inside the bag.”

Avoiding the Shelter’s Drama

Like others who have lived on the streets for a while he now avoids the shelter.

“I used to stay at the shelter the first time but when, my sleeping bag was stolen, I didn’t want to stay there anymore because somebody stole from me in the shelter. Then we would have like a long line, for feeding, people would cut in line and that's not fair for people who are waiting for one hour, if you know what I mean. And then people would just get angry and fight just, just for staying in line to eat. There’s just too much drama.”

He says people think people like him are lazy but he disagrees. He says he tries his best to fit in Reno and his family, but it hasn’t worked out for him.

“I just hope that things will be better for all of us. And one day we will, we will be all happy, one family and no more racism, no more discrimination. It doesn't matter what religion you are, what color you are. We're all human beings. I think everybody should welcome everybody. That’s what I think. There's no harm. Nobody wants to hurt you. I feel like I'm living in the wild, wild, west right now because I'm homeless.”

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Lori, 43 Today and Freezing Cold on the Streets of Reno

Life at the Shelter, Waiting for Better Days

Lori’s job search in Reno got derailed as she says her new Reno boyfriend encountered serious health issues. At the time of our meeting, she said she hoped to pool resources together and find a place with him.

“He's been dealing with cellulitis in both legs,” she told us during our interview. “His legs look like an elephant's legs, and his feet, look like an elephant’s, but now he's better. So I'm hoping tomorrow he'll be out (of the hospital) and then … I won't be homeless anymore. We met when I kept asking him like a million questions because I'm new here and then that's how I met him. He lives in the shelter just like me. “

She has found shelter life in downtown Reno difficult.

“They try their best, but there's not enough staff,” she said. “There's not enough bathrooms. It's cramped, it’s crowded. People argue. You're thrown in with random people and it's like we really need more blankets and towels and I know the workers and the staff do the best they can, but there's just not enough of them. It is just cramped, crowded….”

Lori has been homeless elsewhere, but usually she says she is able to find a new job fairly quickly. “I always carry my hygiene products, like I carry miniatures, like a miniature shampoo, conditioner … When you're homeless you get dirty, you can't go home and wash up, you can't go home and change your clothes… It makes me feel like I'm a little kid in some ways because I'm so dirty. I'm like, oh my God, my pants are so dirty.”

More Resources Needed to Get Back on Track

Lori would like to have more resources on location at the downtown shelter if possible.

“My recommendation would be a larger homeless facility,” she said. She would like the shelter to have more computers so people can look up jobs quickly. She thinks it would also be useful to have a service for immediate access for job interview clothes.

“It's like you don't always have money to buy your interview clothes, but you need the interview clothes to get off the street and maybe have someone help people on their job interviews and stuff...”

She says her boyfriend did find housing before he went to the hospital, but it took him three months, due to the local housing crisis, and lack of affordability. Meanwhile, while her boyfriend sorts out his health issues, she is still homeless, dealing with getting kicked out of bathrooms, ticketed if she falls asleep outside, and hearing mean things said about her.

“They told me I need to be on the grass area and avoid restaurants,” she said of her interactions with Reno’s police. “It's ice cold out here and I'm fighting off all these germs from everybody (at the shelter)….”

Brushing Up Her Resume at the Library

Lori has been trying to write a new resume for herself, she says. She’s gone to the library to get help from books but says it only got her more confused.

“I was reading these articles and they're like, use this font and use that font. And I'm like, oh my gosh, you know, I'm not sure which one is the best,” she said.

She has had experience helping her Dad work on cars and motorcycles. She’s also worked in the fast food industry, and as a personal cook. If given the opportunity, she’d love to find work cooking for the disabled.

Lori also said she wanted to remind Our Town Reno readers that her birthday is January 6th, and that she hopes they will have good thoughts for her.

Our Town Reporting by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins

Bill Muck, Epiphanies of Empathy While Experiencing Homelessness

Experimenting Life on the Streets and Being Shunned

This past summer, Bill Muck, a former Air Force bomber pilot and graphic designer turned minister and homeless activist, spent a week living on the streets with the lead pastor of the New Life Christian Center Angelo Austria. Muck had previously done a similar experiment as a class project.

“That week literally, it changed my heart,” he said. “It changed my outlook… I used to be rather cavalier about the homeless thinking that if they just would go out and get a job, they wouldn't be homeless and if they weren't drug addicts and if they weren't alcoholics … I was very arrogant about it. I would be the guy that would roll down their window and yell at some guy, ‘Hey, get a job.’ That week showed me so much about what it means to be homeless and to have nothing and how our society looks down on homeless people,” he said.

He said people avoided him because they were afraid he would ask for money. His first experiment was in March in frigid temperatures.

“Over the course of that week, I walked into 11 different casinos. It was freezing cold, it was snowing. All I wanted to do was just warm up and 10 of them kicked me out and the record was 16 seconds from the time I walked in because I had a big beard. I had a big backpack. I looked like I wasn't there to gamble. I looked like I was there to, you know, maybe beg money, I don't know, but they, they, they're not only escorted me out the door, they escorted me off the property. I couldn't even be standing outside on the sidewalk. I never experienced that before. I never experienced walking into a convenience store and having literally the clerk walk just a foot or two behind me to make sure I wasn't stealing things from him. That was so foreign to me and it made me realize how our community regards people just based on how we look,” he said.

“The numbers that we encountered were just exponentially higher than what I had seen the first time out,” he said of his second experience of living on the streets this past summer. “And I knew that because I've been out in the homeless community every Monday morning, so I know that the problem is growing and not getting better.”

From Chapel Services at the Pit Back to the Heartbreaking Streets

After his first revelatory experience living on the streets, Muck began leading chapel services in what’s called “the pit” outside Reno’s main downtown shelter.

“The pit is the one area in Reno, where the homeless people can kind of hang out without fear of being run off,” he said. “And so for five and a half years, I became intimately aware of our homeless population and I will tell you that over the last year or two, the numbers have just exploded.”

He then tried the living on the streets a second time, but this time in entirely different weather conditions.

“This time it was just miserably hot. Everyday was over 100 degrees. So I can say that I've experienced Reno from both ends of the spectrum now. It was smoky, it was hot, it was just miserable,” he said.

A screengrab from his new organization. Muck said he is open to help all who seek assistance. “They can contact me either by phone or email and I would encourage anyone that has a homeless person or that knows a homeless person to let us see if we can do something with them. Generally we are able to find places that we can help them with to either make things easier or to get them into some sort of a substantial stable environment. They can also write me on bill@upreachreno.org.”

The Get A Job Line Does Not Make Sense

While back on the streets, Muck said he came to understand yet again why the ‘hey, just get a job’ line just doesn’t make sense. “We stunk and there was no place that we can get a shower,” he said. “So I'm thinking, how are they going to go get a job when they got to carry this backpack with him, they got to carry everything they own and, and, and they stink, they don't have a change of clothes. And then you're gonna fill out an application and you're going to come down to that point that it says address and you're going to put none. And how likely is that person going to be to get hired?”

He said he came to realize the complexity of being homeless. “I mean, for that whole week, we looked at it from the point of view of the homeless. We got close to them. We talked with them because we looked the part. We looked like we fit in with them, they were able to open up and give us some amazing stories about what they had been through, why they were homeless. These people people feel overwhelmingly that nobody cares about them. Their families walked out on them, their friends have left them. They feel like God has walked out on them. And as a pastor, that's what really broke my heart, was they feel that they weren't even good enough to be able to talk to God because he was ashamed of them or they were ashamed of what they had done.”

“We slept in the streets. We found a park and we were there for a week. What we didn't know was that the city of Reno turns on the water sprinklers at 1:00 a.m. every morning. And so we got baptized. So we had to find a particular place in the park that was outside of the range of the water sprinklers. A couple of times we thought we were going to get moved on by the cops because they would drive by. Fortunately we had a pretty good hiding place so I don't think they ever saw us,” he said.

Helping Beyond Food

Muck says he’s seen progress lately, with better ideas to help in the community, new projects orchestrated by government agencies, and more acceptance of the homeless population.

He says feedings have not been a problem in Reno, with plenty available, and that his new organization is trying to address other issues.

He listed recent examples, including someone needing shoes. “He was a big man and he needed size 15 shoes. We were able to find some for him. Someone came in and said my electricity is going to be shut off. You know, they're not homeless. They're making money, they're just not making enough. And so, many times they come down to … do you buy food or do you pay your electric bill? And that's where we're able to help out a little bit with and do some things to either defer payments or work with them.”

Muck would like to see more available services, to really help people get to where they can start thinking of trying to apply for jobs. He listed more examples of what’s needed: “places to shower, places to change clothes, places to put your bag, while you're out doing a job interview, places to get a decent looking outfit or suit where you can go and present yourself in an interview, in a respectable manner. These things are vital to these people and they're life changing. We have goals down the road of having training for job skills training, for resume writing, for job placement, for medical insurance, and, you know, being able to apply and qualify for insurance here.”

Reporting by Prince Nesta with Photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Jacobs Entertainment and Its Local Globe of Influence

Doodling while Waiting for Information

The lack of information surrounding Reno’s emptied out lots owned by Colorado-based Jacobs Entertainment has led to many guessing games, including wild goose chases over the company’s similarly growing number of trademark acquisitions.  

What are We Talking About Exactly?

Fountain District?  But wait could it be the Reno Eye with a Ferris wheel?  Or the Glow District with some sort of revitalization of decapitated motel signs? We’ve heard many theories, from the possibility of mixing in more casinos with senior housing to ensure disability and social security checks go straight to slot machines, or simply leaving the lots empty, waiting for the next economic upswing. 

At a December Reno city council meeting, Garett Gordon, representing Jacobs Entertainment, presented this slide and said the company would announce within 90 days a “multi-million dollar, world class public space”, complete with Burning Man art and housing. Previous deadlines to divulge the Jacobs Plan for Reno’s west 4th street have come and gone unfulfilled.

Resistance and Disputes

This has coincided with some owners resisting to sell, waiting for higher prices, while there have also been apparent disputes with a still not moved business over an alleyway, new codes imposed on motels and a restaurant owner angry she is now operating within an apocalyptic dust bowl of sorts. 

There were tears and hugs recently as Jacobs Entertainment announced the 46-room Crest Inn would … gasp not be demolished …. but instead converted into the new Renova Flats. 

A photo from inside a room of the Crest Inn as renovations got underway. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

A Renova Going on?

“The name Renova comes from the combination of ‘Reno’ and the latin word for new, ‘nova.’ It is our hope to bring something completely new and vibrant, yet still have it stay true to Reno’s spirit and contribute to Reno’s growth,” Jeff Jacobs was quoted as saying in a Jacobs Entertainment press release marking that occasion.

Some on the Reno Reddit thread thought that sounded too much like a pharmaceutical product with way too many disclaimers.

“The renovations will be done by Reno Real Estate Development, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jacobs Entertainment, Inc,” the press release continued, indicating yet another name acquisition. 

A redone room inside the Crest Inn shown to visitors. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

A Mission to Provide?

“Renova Flats is another component of our mission to provide higher quality living conditions to the area,” Jonathan Boulware, vice president of Nevada operations for Jacobs was quoted as saying in the same press release.

Owing to his last name starting with B last we checked he was first on the list of the downtownreno.org Board of Directors list.  

“We also anticipate announcing our plans for additional green space as well as streetscape for West 4th St. before the end of the year,” Boulware said.  Green space? We are now dancing by the countless fenced in dusty lots, full of environmental anticipation and glee. 

We were offered an interview by the Abbi Agency with a former Crest Inn resident but she seemed petrified during the interview.  Was she afraid she would say the wrong thing jeopardizing what she may have been offered as relocation assistance?, our reporters wondered.

A man who said his name is Jacob and who said he has lived at the Crest Inn and the Mardi Gras spoke at the end of our recent live journalism event Who does the City Belong To? He said media ignored what Jacobs Entertainment was doing to help people, and said there was “heart” to the changes. He said he was being helped to get an apartment, including to cover the needed deposit and application fees. He said Jacobs Entertainment was helping many others including “ten senior citizens” he said for whom they were paying all rent, and said the company would do this for the remainder of their lives. Fact check?

Who is Listening to Who?

At the same event (as above) at the yet unsold Desert Rose Inn, Mayor Hillary Schieve got a tv camera interview but then chatted in the background and didn’t seem to look at or listen to any of the motel residents, who said they felt afraid their homes, which is a motel room, would be the next to go.  This led to some angry comments on our Facebook page. Could she not bear to listen to the testimony of long term motel residents who feared for their future? 

So in the absence of knowing what Jacobs Entertainment is planning with all its empty lots, all we can look into is some of the company’s vast network of connections, not surprising since it already operates the Sands Regency Casino Hotel and the Gold Dust West Casino, but still impressive in scope and influence.

Former mayoral candidate Jessica Sferrazza counts Jacobs Entertainment among her clients.

Numerous Ties

The Mayor’s close friend and ally Jessica Sferrazza (“Madam Clerk, in the interest of full transparency I am disclosing the fact that I have a personal relationship with Jessica Sferrazza,” Schieve says at many Reno City Council meetings, including when a Jacobs-related plan is discussed) is a local lobbyist who has worked for Jacobs Entertainment through her company JESSCONVLLC. 

The daughter of former long time mayor turned judge Pete Sferrazza, was blocked from running in the 2014 mayoral race herself when the Nevada Supreme Court sided in favor of a lawsuit by erstwhile candidate Eddie Lorton over termed out council members.  Last we checked, Sferrazza’s Facebook page for her aborted mayoral campaign run was still alive with an endorsement for Schieve and the recurring use of the #Renorevival hashtag. 

An important moment in Reno’s city politics happened when Hillary Schieve emerged as the frontrunner in the 2014 mayor’s race following a court decision.

From the Abbi Agency to Former Managers and Motel Residents

Abbi Whitaker, the president and founder of the Abbi Agency was Schieve's chief campaign consultant during her 2014 bid for mayor and helped her with her successful 2018 re-election bid as well. Jacobs Entertainment has also been an Abbi Agency client. 

Former motel managers working for motels now bought out and former residents have been hired as consultants, movers, influencers, relocation helpers, janitors, etc… the list is long.

A note by council member Jenny Brekhus expressing her concern over terms set out by Jacobs Entertainment in its bid to obtain an option to buy city-owned property on Keystone Ave.

Many Questions and Links, Few Answers

The motel demolitions have led to relocations and displacements, creating more people in need of housing, since motels are often a last resort or a first resort in terms of shelter.

Jacobs Entertainment has also purchased land from the Reno Housing Authority in exchange for donations, and they’ve donated to nonprofits also offering a larger pledge in case of equal community fundraising.  A private-public partnership between Jacobs and the Housing Authority is reported to have led to a condo being used to house a graduate of the city’s much touted Reno Works program.  Those occasions were marked by glowing initial media coverage, but where are the follow up stories?

As we searched the Internet for connections, we also doodled on a napkin some of the spheres of influence we were able to identify, which we found impressive even for a developer/ casino operator, while looking out at all the empty lots, thinking of the recently displaced, and sensing the fear of those whose motel rooms may soon vanish as well. 

Our Town Reno Reporting, December 2018

Gary Foote, A Historical Family Businessman's Perspective on a Changing Reno

In the Middle of a Buying Spree

HBM, with a showroom filled with decades old technological equipment, could soon be swept up in the Jacobs Entertainment buying spree, as the Colorado-based gaming company buys up motels, old stores and lots in and around the west side of 4th street in downtown Reno. This has caused concern of displacements and worsening the affordable housing crisis, which Foote understands.

“They bought the property, wanted to ‘improve the neighborhood,’” Foote told Our Town Reno during a recent interview. “His perception of improving the neighborhood was getting rid of those motels,” he said of Jeff Jacobs the company’s CEO. “Does he have a specific responsibility to replace those residential dwellings If he makes representations and promises to do so then probably, but … I don't know that the city has the purview or wherewithal to force somebody to build something. So then it's a matter of some persuasion.”

Foote says he himself has been given an offer to sell, but that as is the case for the general Jacobs plan, the process remains shrouded in uncertainty. “Even with my own building they say, we may be interested in acquiring it at some point in time. But then they made an unserious offer and they have not been responsive to my reply to them,” he said.

Walking into HBM seems like going back a couple of decades. Photo for Our Town Reno by Jordan Blevins.

A Future of History or Low Income Housing or Neither?

Foote talked about what he described as an impossible task to both preserve history and low income housing.

“The properties on the West Street, Arlington block, were very marginally historical at all and the ones that maybe had some architectural appeal would have had to have so much money poured into them to get them to be of a presentable nature. And then you have those two competing forces of low income housing in historic preservation because if you're going to preserve it historically, you're going to pour a bunch of money into it and then you can possibly have it affordable for somebody with low income. So those are actually opposing forces,” he said.

Foote, though, doesn’t see too many of the bulldozed properties as having much historical value, contrary to vocal preservationists.

“The cinder block buildings have no architectural appeal in particular,” he said. “And then you have a scale, where it's like if there's a historical nature to sort of the 1950s motel culture if you will, there's some stuff on like East Fourth street that has a more open and architecturally appealing, sort of some art deco kind of elements and those types of things, then they can make a move to try and encourage the ownership to preserve it without them saying, ‘hey, we want to buy this or we want you to, to improve it so much that you're going to end up kicking people out there, living there now,’” he said of possible city of Reno strategies going forward.

A screengrab from HBM’s website tracing back the company’s family inception.

In the Dark about the Jacobs Downtown Expansion

Foote said he doesn’t mind the change that’s happening, for himself or his business. He says some people always wanted to avoid certain parts of Reno, including where his business now stands, but that, evidently, he never shared those feelings. However, as others in Reno, he says he remains in the dark as to what exactly Jacobs Entertainment is planning to do with all its lots.

“I think the primary issue I have is that they seem to be fairly secretive as to what their real intention is,” he said. “Whether I agree with it or not doesn't really make any difference… There's some elements of public relations that I think they lack. They're fairly casual in terms of ‘we've got some great plans but we can't reveal them as of yet.’”

One plan Jacobs is pushing for he has disagreed with is the company’s bid to take over an alley that runs on the side of his store.

“Jacobs is, I guess for lack of a better word, petitioning the city to abandon the North South alley or to have the city abandon the property and basically sell it to Jacobs,” Foote said of an alley that runs next to his store. “It doesn't make any sense to abandon the alley,” he said.

The Price Isn’t Right Yet

When we met him recently, Foote said a sale of his location to Jacobs was not happening yet.

“It's one of those cases, that for the right price…. yes. And then it's a matter of what sort of commercial building can be found of a comparable size, location, etc…. that would make sense to move the business to…”

Location is not that important though for Foote, at this point, which also means he isn’t bothered by everything that’s happening around it.

“We're not a tourist business, we're not necessarily that much of a retail business,” he said. “We do some retail sales, but it's for people that find us and 80% of our business, we go to our client. So where we're at ….doesn't really make that much difference to our business,” he said.

Interview by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno in December 2018

Pack Provisions at UNR Helps Financially-Challenged Students

Smiling Volunteers and Coordinators

Due to rising rents and tuition costs there is an increasing need for easier access to affordable food and other daily necessities for students at the University of Nevada, Reno. Pack Provisions, on the third floor of the Joe Crowley Student Union, has been around since 1993, but coordinators say the need for it now is more apparent than ever.

The window leading into the pantry is bordered with green and red tinsel. A smiling volunteer sits in the middle waiting to help students get what they need.

Student coordinator, Karissa Mendaros, gives a tour of what Pack Provisions has to offer, which is more than just food.

In the closet there are shirts on mismatched hangers and stacked tupperware. Pack Provisions’ pantry is lined with canned and boxed food and a big bag of onions. They also have a microwave on site and tall coolers holding frozen foods.

Mendaros, a nutritional science and chemistry senior, is enthusiastic about the attention Pack Provision has been receiving. Her goal is to break the stigma surrounding asking for help.

“We have people who would come in and be like, “Oh I don’t think I should get this, I feel like more people deserve it,” but you need it so you should get it. Right now I don’t have a limit on things that people can get,” she said.

Pack Provisions tries to be as welcoming as possible to students in need. Pictured here is Thomas Libang. Photo by Lucia Starbuck.

More and More Visitors

Over 400 students have used Pack Provisions so far this semester. This is a big leap compared to the 78 visitors Mendaros saw her freshman year.

According to Pack Provisions, for their most recent study, in 2016, 21% of UNR students were food insecure.

“I am definitely one of those college students that is facing a little bit of food insecurity,” Vera Miller said.

Miller, a 23-year-old photography and videography major, believes Pack Provisions is essential to campus life. She has a campus library job but she says it’s not enough to cover all of her needs.

“I am currently living paycheck-to-paycheck,” Miller said.

Miller describes her own experience using Pack Provisions as positive and welcoming.

“Let me just walk you through the process so we’ve got like all kinds of boxed and canned food items which are really yummy and really good, we’ve even got Annie’s Mac and Cheese which is really cool, but they also sometimes have fresh produce, they sometimes have orders of Burger King which is super nice, fast food is pretty cool sometimes,” Miller said.

Vera Miller says Pack Provisions has helped her with accessing food during her studies. Photo by Lucia Starbuck.

Anxious Students

Other students at UNR feel less inclined to ask for help. James Long, a senior Psychology major, says he wouldn’t use Pack Provisions. He is currently unable to afford stable housing, but feels apprehensive to go to the free pantry.

“It’s just a social anxiety thing I think. There’s a long interaction process of walking up to a window, filling out a form,” Long says.

Long says it can be challenging asking for help.

“I think most people to one degree or another don’t like admitting when they need help. You know, it’s sort of a path of last resort and that’s not just about food that’s about anything. But food would definitely be a big one because that implies that you’re on particularly hard times,” Long says.

James Long says it can be difficult for students in need to ask for food. Photo by Lucia Starbuck.

Alleviating Those Anxieties

But Mendaros says even if students do have this type of anxiety to sign up they need to realize how much they can benefit by going.

“Let them know that we are college students,” Mendaros says, “We understand that it’s getting harder. I mean, at the beginning of the semester tuition is due already, books are much more expensive, those access codes are like a hundred bucks each. We are in college to provide and be successful and hopefully get out there and change the world but how can we do that if we ourselves are struggling?”

Pack Provisions has also implemented Mobile Mondays, a farmer’s market that occurs about once a month, where students can get fresh produce for free on campus.

Photography and Reporting by Lucia Starbuck for Our Town Reno

David Jhonattan, Leading Motel Kids in Direct Action

Taking the Protest Around Downtown

It’s a cool, crisp, Sunday after Thanksgiving in downtown Reno, and David Jhonattan is leading ten or so kids from the Wonder Lodge motel to the Truckee River, parading their large “Stop Rent Greed” sign down Virginia Street, engaging in conversations with curious residents, handing out free pizza and getting pedestrians to paint their names on the back of the protest art.

While one city ambassador, RTC workers and motel employees shoo them away, several cars honk in favor, and many passersby give a thumbs up. Jhonattan, an activist by day with a graveyard shift by night, engages with everyone he crosses, both in Spanish and English.

“Every single place has a value, you know, and sometimes people that own these properties take advantage of people and lie about the value and that’s what rent greed is when they take advantage of it,” he says to a kid just joining the group. All of them, except for one, Jhonattan says, currently live in motels, where long term stays are also going up. “Rent control is where the city gets involved and tells these companies you can't be raising these rents without, you know, proper procedures. So that's why your Dad’s not home … or your mom's at work all the time.”

One of the first pedestrian to sign wrote “Love is Truth” behind the big ambulatory protest sign.

A Joyous Carnival

At one point, the kids throw their basketball in the Truckee River, and Jhonattan takes off his shirt, shoes and socks to retrieve it.

One of the kids carries a bluetooth boom box while another picks upbeat songs to play loudly as they move along the river walk, getting a welcome break from their cramped motel existence.

Jhonattan knows them all through the Team Learn non-profit he manages, which aims to reform education. Their parents have all given their approval for their participation and the kids seem to be having a great time. Jhonattan says it’s also good education for them.

“You know, when they grow up, they’ll think back, back in the day this guy did this, I should do this too, you know. It kind of goes back into their DNA, into their form of living.”

The sign made its way across downtown Reno as kids alternated holding it.

Are Rent Control and Regulation the Solution?

If legislated, rent control and rent regulation are administered by a court or a public authority. Controls limit the amount a property owner can charge for renting out a home, apartment or other real estate. There are also eviction controls.

Currently, California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and the District of Columbia have localities with some form of rent control. Thirty-seven states prohibit or preempt rent control, while nine states allow their cities to enact rent control, but have no cities that have implemented it. Nevada does not have any rent control laws, meaning landlords may increase the rent to any amount.

When previously brought up on #ourtownreno rent control concepts have elicited angry comments from some on social media.

The sign got a warm reception and many new signatories outside the Sierra Tap House.

More Empathy and Protests Needed

Jhonattan says those raising rents should have more empathy for people, but they don’t. “The people that own properties and make a good living out of them, they're already making money. Even if the rent's cheap, they'll make a lot of good money. It's just they're making a whole lot more money by raising rent.”

At the basketball court, he had the kids gather around and say they were soldiers fighting for their parents, education and immigration. He says he hopes to continue the protest on a daily basis in the afternoons to keep building awareness. “Any awareness is good,” he said, “because you never know who's passing by. It could be a government area, it could be a casino owner. You never know. You know one person can make a difference. So two, three, four, or five people … maybe something's going to change. If you don't do anything, you never tried and nothing's ever going to change.”

Photos and Reporting by Our Town Reno on Nov. 25, 2018

Derek Bray, Feeling Home at the Castaway Inn

A Change of Life

“It's really nice here. People are really respectful,” Derek Bray says of the Castaway Inn.

The small motel room Bray lives in is cramped with possessions, including family pictures with children.

“I was married for 30 years to a good Mormon girl and after the marriage I wanted to see what it was like to be me, you know, because it was always against the rules to show anything feminine inside of me because I was born a boy and a girl. I've had surgeries and to show that to anybody, it's like, would be disgraceful and I understand that. But being single it’s like I'm just me. I'm not gay. I'm a boy and a girl, you know, that's what I am. But people misunderstand that. I tried to explain it to them, but I don't think they believe it or something, but if I get right down to the point where I have to show them my scars and stuff like that, I would do that.”

“My breasts grew in junior high school and I wore bandages, you know, and I didn't even think anything about it but one day or so, I was at one of my girlfriend's house and they were like, Holy Shit, what's wrong with you? I had breasts. It's like, it didn't even dawn on me. I have the scars for all that stuff,” Bray said.

Working at the MGM Grand and Feeling Reno’s Magic

Bray got married in 1980 in Lake Tahoe wedding chapel and then after moving to Reno, went to work at the MGM Grand, the predecessor of the Grand Sierra Resort.

“That was spectacular,” Bray remembers. “It was so exciting to come here to Reno, making five bucks an hour. That was just like big money, you know, but going into that MGM Grand for the first time, it's like God, it was just like being in a movie. It was just amazing. Every day I went to work it was like that. It's still like that from me now. Even in Reno, it just has that magic about it. It just doesn't have the fruit trees along the side of the road or any of that, but there was that magic to it, to just like, it's hard to get away from it, you know?”

“This was the only place that would accept me and my cat, you know, because I wasn't about to let my best friend go,” Bray says of moving in the pet friendly Castaway Inn.

Helping in Churches and Avoiding Gambling

Bray lives on disability income and helps at local churches.

“I have brain damage and they call it bipolar but it's brain damage. I have short term and long term memory issues remembering things,” Bray said.

One downside of Reno, Bray talks about, is rampant gambling addiction.

“I see people going to shelters and stuff and I see people living at the river, but I see people with addictions and the biggest one seems to be gambling,” Bray said. “That gambling stuff just destroys them. I didn't realize it was such a powerful drug, gambling. With some kind of programs around that kind of thing, it would make a big difference for them because I see it all the time. I see my friends going from friends to just like robbing you and stuff because they need to put five dollars in the Cleopatra machine or something. It's like, I don't understand. That doesn't make any sense, you know.”

Bray is hoping to get a bigger room at some point, and have a bath.

Seeking Simple Pleasures

”I'm going to talk to the owner within the next couple of weeks about getting like a bigger place,” Bray said. “A place over here that's got like two bedrooms and a bathtub. I haven't had a bathtub in like three years. I would like to soak in it. It It’s gotta to feel so good. It's been a long time.”

Before we left, Bray also talked about having more space to cook. “My favorite dish would be biscuits and gravy with sausage and strawberry shortcakes.”

Reporting by Prince Nesta with Photos by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Heroes of Reno: Julie Dunlap and the Big Coat Drive

With already frigid temperatures at nights and in the early morning hours, volunteers with the Nevada Alumni Association were in full force today on the UNR campus trying to do their part in helping those less fortunate who need extra help during the cold months.

By midday already over 100 coats had been donated.

“We’re having people walking over and some pulling over and opening up their trunk and we can be able to take their clothes and put them in the bins,” Dunlap explained.

The initiative was part of the overarching Big Reno Coat Drive with details here: http://bigrenocoatdrive.org/

People donating were being given a 25% discount in the Nevada Wolf Shop, with extra meaning this year with a strong finishing Nevada Wolf Pack football team and a highly touted basketball team.

“We’re doing our part to hopefully get as many people to come by and drop warm coats,” Dunlap said.

Reporting and Photography by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Ahmad, a World Traveler Who Lost It All But Not His Brain

A Man Broken Off from His Past

Ahmad, a native of Egypt now in his mid 60s struggling with alcoholism, lived for a decade in France, where he worked on houses as a contractor. In the early 1990s, love brought him to the United States. For a time, he was married with two kids living a good life in in Santa Cruz. But then with his relationship fraying due to alcoholism, he moved to Reno, where he initially worked as a cab driver, painter and landscaper.

His life slowly deteriorated here, though, from working less and less to living in motels to now fending for himself on the streets. He said his new girlfriend was too messy to live with in a motel. “I put one garbage out, she brings three in. So I couldn't keep up with her,” he said.

Anyway, he says, motels are out of reach for him financially now. “The motels used to be like $300, $400 a month. Now it's over $700 or even $900. How can people with fixed income afford that?”

Ahmad is trying to apply for assisted housing programs, but finding the process difficult. “I just want to move out of the streets,” he said. “I don't want to die in the streets.” He says he gets $376 a month in retirement money, which only gets him so far.

Regrets and Feeling Old

Ahmad says he’s given up in some ways, and feels he’s too old to find work. “I'm an old man. Who'd want to hire me? Nobody. They'd rather hire a young person whose got more energy than me to clean the place or do something. I'm turning 65 very soon,” he said.

He’s totally broken off from his childhood in Egypt and his own family. “My problem is when I turn my back on something I forget it because it brings a lot of pain I guess,” he said. He misses his children as well. “I really miss to see them grow up. That's the best gift as a dad, to see your kids grow up,” he said.

“I can say that maybe I was stupid, a fool, kind of arrogant when I had it. Please don't be arrogant when you have it,” he added.

“We've been together helping each other. I care about her and that's why I'm around her,” Ahmad said of his girlfriend. He says he gets food stamps and goes to food lines from time to time as part of their survival together.

Angry with Politicians, the Shelter and Local Police

As local elections near, Ahmad doesn’t believe politicians really want to help the homeless.

“It's all about money,” he said. “Do you know how much money is gonna be spent in this election? They do all this fundraising because rich people want to get some contract or something to build something. They contribute to them thousands of dollars because they know they're going to make it back. Look at all these politicians and look at the people around them. They get money to make money because they know a politician can sign a contract here or there.”

He prefers to avoid the main downtown shelter. “I've been in the shelter and I don't like the attitude of the people who work in the shelter,” he said. “The shelter is full of bugs... I prefer the bugs here, but not in the shelter. I'd rather breathe fresh air than get intoxicated down there. The people they hire, I know what their problem is, they think they're better than everybody ….”

He also has stern words about local police. “When you put somebody in uniform … you’ve got to make sure that they treat the homeless people or people in general with respect. Or you're going to get a revolution. Police brutality is wrong . Hey, I'm a homeless guy. They gave me a ticket while I'm just sitting there drinking…. Where am I going to find this money from? They want to put me in jail to get money? When tourists come out, you go put homeless people in jail? Lock them up and harass the homeless people? We don't steal from nobody so why do you condemn me for that?”

“A good dog,” he said of Buddy. “Very gentle. It’s a sad life out here. Believe me,” he said. Dogs aren’t allowed in most shelters, which is why many homeless prefer to stay on the streets with their trusted companions.

Urging Others to Vote

Any advice for people encountering the homeless? “A little respect elevates our spirit but when they look down upon you, you feel crushed. Just say ‘hi’ and I'm good. I don't need your money. But if you look at me like I'm down your wrong because it could happen to you,” he said.

“I'm trying to help myself. I'm trying to get a job but I can't. I'm too old. I'm upset, but I'm not mad. I'm upset about the action and reaction. And the system is corrupt. It's up to us the people to make a movement. Vote and choose the right person. Vote vote vote. Don't miss the opportunity to choose someone who will make a difference,” he concluded.

Photos and Reporting by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Mika, An Anagrammer, Struggling with A Past of Abuse and Bad Relationships

A Survivor

A Texas native, living off $600 in monthly disability payments, Mika says she’s been homeless in her home state, as well as Colorado, Arkansas and California. She’s been on the streets of Reno since June, trying to find quiet places and avoiding the main shelter.

She says it’s difficult when homelessness is criminalized, and that you can get tickets for camping or cooking. But she says whatever the risks she still prefers living outside on her own.

“I like the camping lifestyle. I prefer nature, you know, because when I do have my chance in my camps, it's like a little mini apartment. I have what I need, you know, I'm self sufficient. I love being out here. It's just against the rules. I keep my area clean, I don't bother nobody. But … some of the others, they trash the place, they make, all kinds of ruckus, cheat, steal each other.”

But she says being around troublemakers is even worse at the shelter.

“They're against each other instead of building each other up …. they are against each other. So it's hard to be in a place like that when you're trying to get back up and can't seem to get back up because even your fellow female is against you. . We're supposed to be together to rise up, not to put each other down and keep each other down because I hurt just like they do and I know they hurt too … So I just can't stand that. Too many hens and not enough roosters …”

“This is all I have left right now. Just some clothes, some food and blankets, a book, crossword puzzles, that kind of thing. I finished out my crossword books so I do my own anagrams. I take a word, a big word four letters or more plus with the letters they give me, just anagramming. I do it for hours.”

On Watch Duty and Frustrated by Housing Vouchers

Sometimes she will watch other people’s stuff and sometimes they watch hers, so she can go shower somewhere and check her mail. When she is on watch duty, she says she works on crossword puzzles or her own anagrams for hours on end.

Mika says she tried to go through government channels to secure affordable housing but ended up frustrated with the process.

“I had gotten my housing voucher after about five years and every time I went to sign up for places that took it, it’s one more waiting list and the voucher only last three months. So I kept having to start all over again…. Sometimes they have to stop the waiting list because it's just too full,” she said.

“I wish I had done this. I wish I hadn't done that. But what I would say is, ‘what don't kill you makes you stronger.’ This too shall pass. You know. And sometimes it's like, oops, I wish I had known. What was I thinking? Sometimes I get depressed about it, sometimes I get mad with myself, but then just hopefully learn from that mistake.”

A Gambling Problem for the Homeless

Mika says having so many casinos around Reno is a problem for those like her, who always hope they can turn their luck but instead lose their government money.

“If the casinos were not here, people wouldn't be gambling their money away. If there would be no casinos, they would have their check. And I'm guilty of it. I've been guilty of it too. I didn't grow up around gambling, so I did not know how to gamble. In Texas, it's illegal…”

She said gambling isn’t her only addiction.

“I love to drink beer and I battle other things too …. drugs, alcohol, pills, men. I guess sometimes I do drugs but it’s not like my forte and my niche, but out here I'll rationalize myself to go to sleep, to forget, to feel better, to make the pain go away. It doesn't take it away, just for a little bit and I get caught up in that whirlwind of just wanting it to go away. and so sometimes it temporarily takes the pain away. That's the battle with it.”

Mika says she’s always looked for love in the wrong places. “When I was younger, now I'm not gonna do that hardly anymore, but I would go from relationship to relationship looking for real love. If you loved me, everything will be all better. It's how I was raised up. I watched my mother go through a lot of relationships. She's had several marriages. So that's what I saw … man after man…. Marriage after marriage. My natural father deceased since I was about eight and a half and the one I called my dad, he died in 2006, but I was real close with him. He died from the West Nile virus in Fresno.”

Up and Down the River

Her recent life journey has taken her up and down the Truckee river. She’s thought of getting all her paperwork in order again to try with housing vouchers but sometimes feels that would be hopeless.

“I've been up and down the river from (downtown) and then all the way down to what they call the end of the world. I've lived all up and down this river. “

She said police often ask her to move and that she does. “They're just doing their jobs. Some of them are used to some really rude people and combativeness and so they have to treat everybody like that. You know what I mean? It's not talking about abuse or anything, but they have to use that tone of voice with everybody. No one's like tasering me or anything. . Just follow the rules. Yes sir or no sir. If they ask me to move on then I move on.”

As we near the end of our interview, she opens up about her youth. “When I was young I tried to commit suicide three times. I guess I didn't understand. I didn't want to die. Just wanted the pain to go away. It was the pain from the things that happened to me as a child, as a young girl. Stuff like molestation, abuse and most of the time it was my mother's guy friends. With the sexual assaults happening I felt abandoned and unprotected by someone that I feel should have protected me.”

Tears for Others and Her Mother

She has tears in her eyes as she gives advice to others who might be in her predicament.

“Rise up. Don't give up. You're not alone. If I can do it, you can do it. Rise up. You gotta reach out. You gotta ask for help. The worst somebody can say is, no. I'm pretty sure we've all heard the word no many, many times in our life and we're still alive today So don't kill yourself. Say something. Don't keep it to yourself. Don't hide. Don't be afraid to say something.”

She also has tears for her Mom even though she says she has nothing to say to her.

”I've forgiven her, but she knows why I'm out here. I know the story. She knows the story. She knows right where I'm at, and we know the story. She's still my mother, I miss her. I miss her,” she said.

Photography by Jordan Blevins with Reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Does the Homeless Population Vote?

“I am going to vote in the elections. I haven’t followed the issues, but I am concerned about health care,” said Lynn Liebeck, who came to Reno about three years ago from Swan Island, Oregon. We met her at the main downtown shelter. She was the only person who gave her name.

“I’ve never voted in my life.”

“No, I’m not going to vote in the city election. I don’t trust anybody.”

Photos and Interviews by Michael S. Graham shared with Our Town Reno

Jonathan, an Injured Logger who Self-Medicated

Recovering from a Broken Back and Trying Rehab

Jonathan Brewer, says he comes from a long line of loggers in the state of Washington, including his grandfather and father and all his uncles. But after his injury, and self-medicating, his life veered away from logging.

“I've been labeled an addict and I've been through rehabs and jails, America's reprogramming or whatever you want to call it and I accepted it and went through it but … it's just another mind trick. They want you to …. enslave yourself too. I've been in jail for different things. I was a spoiled brat.”

“These people have given up, took losses, detrimental blows that were hard to mentally recover from,” he says of others living without housing. “There's vultures, you know, there's creditors out here. They prey off the weak. Even I, even I prey offr the weak. we all do….” Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

A Family Man with a Broken Car

He says he has five daughters and the hardest is when he can’t find food for his youngest who he says is seven.

“When your seven-year-old daughter asks you what you're gonna have for dinner and you can't answer her and she's hungry,” he said his is toughest challenge. “Asking a stranger for some food or change because your baby's hungry. … and you ain't got shit to feed them….”

He says he found the car he’s currently working on. He said he wants to fix it and get out of Reno. “I found the car on the side of the road. It was abandoned… about to be towed by the city,” he said.

“I've had several cars and I had to do my own maintenance. I didn't have time or money to pay mechanics so I had to figure it out on my own,” he said of trying to fix this car so he can leave Reno. Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Reporting by Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Jimmy: "Things are Looking Up" after Being Attacked in a Motel Room

Recovering from an Attack without Insurance

Jimmy Penrod says it was an attack by a woman in a local motel room and a severe injury to an eye which got his previous life, which included a job as a printer, derailed.

“I didn't have no insurance,” he told us. "It took a long time. They build the eyeball up with nitrogen and put the … retina back into where it's supposed to be. But I kinda got half (of an) eye side out right now….”

He says he has two ex-wives and one 28 year-old son, but that he doesn’t try to bother them with his ordeals.

“I don't tell them nothing. Nothing. I call them up or I go down there and take the bus down there to Carson city…. You know, we have wings and shoot pool … and then I come back here …”

Jimmy was relaxing on a bench by the Truckee river in downtown Reno when we met him. Besides beer, Jimmy says he might also like to gamble too much. After he receives paychecks he says he goes to the Cal Neva. “You know, sometimes it hits, sometimes it don't…. I've lost everything, but the most I hit, I hit $6,000 one night. Had a royal playing, a dollar machine. I played it back over the days and lost it all…”Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta.

From Motels to the Streets

Jimmy says he used to be able to afford a motel room on his own but not right now, even though he’s working again. He tries to stay in motels with friends. He says being outside at night feels dangerous.

“You know you're walking around here at night. Somebody wants to … like molest you. Take your shit,” he said. “You gotta be tough. You gotta be awake. … You know a bunch of bad things happen here. Someone wants to take my money, take whatever is in my pocket. And I'm like it ain't happening. That's why I carry a knife now. You know, I'm an ex felon so I can't have a gun…”

“I wish I did not drink alcohol because your mind works better when you're sober,” he said. “You always do a good thing. I mean I've always had a job. I've never been unemployed, you know? But there's been a couple of times I did not want to go to work because of drinking. Like today.” Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta.

A Prior Hellish Prison Experience

His crime dates back to 1979 in Texas and he recounts in minute detail his capture, which sounds like it could have been in a movie.

“I wanted to come home to Nevada,” he remembers vividly. “I was out in Texas, had no money. I walked in this restaurant and wanted to take their money and take a bus to Nevada. Well, they didn't have any money. It's Christmas Eve. So I was in a stolen truck. I pulled a truck out of a gas station and police started chasing me and … the truck started running out of gas, so I jumped out of the truck. I started running and then I heard these bullets. I was going through the apartments. I could hear the bullets hitting the walls in front of me. So I dropped. At that time, the police didn't even know what they were chasing. But it came across the radio and he says, hey, you ain't that hijacker are you? I said ‘yeah’. And I did eight years time in a Texas prison picking cotton. Texas is not a good place to do time. They make you pick cotton out there, you're tired… and like your, your fingers are bleeding. Oh my God, man….”

“Of course everyday is another day when you wake up in the morning,” he said when we asked him if he had any regrets concerning his turbulent life. Photo by Jordan Blevins with reporting by Prince Nesta.

Reporting by Jordan Blevins and Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

"Stop Looking at Me!": Mary, Healing from Abuse With Her Own Voice

A Nightmare Birthday

It’s my birthday. I wake up excited like I do every year on this day. My partner of fourteen years has been unusually grumpy the last couple of weeks. So I decide to make today a mellow day. An on the couch snuggling, movie kind of day. I put out some snacks and pick out a movie and then all of a sudden there are sheriffs around me, telling me to leave the property.

I have five minutes. What? They can’t do this, I live here! But they can do this. I grab my dogs and their food with no place to go. I go out to the edge of the carport where there is some shade and I just cry, and cry. I’m out there for over eight hours. I didn’t even have water for the dogs. My now ex-partner of fourteen years was too afraid to tell me to my face that he has decided to end our relationship so that he can start a relationship with this twenty-eight-year-old prostitute that he has been seeing.

Finally, I call my son. He picks me up. My ex is nowhere to be found and everything is locked up. My life will never be the same again. And what I’m thinking most as we climb into his vehicle is, “stop looking at me.” As all the neighbors have been watching this unfold.

Photo provided by the VOICE writing workshop.

Fighting for My Life

Over the next two days, I get a court date set and the judge allows me to go back home. The eviction was illegal and immoral. I get back home and my “area” has been separated from the rest of the house.

My belongings are gone, everything! I’m not leaving! We go to court again. Again, the judge permits me to be there. I feel like I am fighting for my life. As everybody watches me play a fool. “Stop looking at me.”

I learn what fighting for my life means when three days later I was beaten so badly that I now have no teeth. [Most of her facial bones had been shattered as well.] I hurt everywhere, and I have no memory of what happened. I keep running. I find a friend. She helped me but I didn’t want to stay there long because everyone who comes to her place keeps giving me that look. Shock. Sympathy. “Stop looking at me.” I again call my son. He gets my dogs for me and I go to his place. I stayed inside for eight and a half months, mostly out of fear.

One of the inspirational quotes on the VOICE Facebook page provided to Our Town Reno.

Sleeping on Cardboard

Then my son had to move for his new job and I am facing the world. I really have no place to go. I grab my dogs and we begin that walk. The walk with no destination and I am sure that everybody I pass is watching me. “Stop looking at me.”

After eight and a half months inside, to being outside completely, so many changes happened. Survival kicked in. Instinctively, I found a piece of cardboard to sleep on top of. The worst part wasn’t sleeping on the ground. The worst part was waking up, in the park, with people doing park things and watching me. “Stop looking at me.”

Making my way to the food line every day, to the resources for a change of clothes and a backpack. I even came up on new dog dishes for my loyal companions. I also came up on the worst sunburn that I ever had. It required medical attention. The homeless doctor was great, giving me the medicine I needed. She even gave me a hat to keep it from getting worse.

Between the heat and the blistering burns, I was getting tired easily. I sat down on the edge of a building and closed my eyes. A few minutes later I was woken up by someone I used to know. He says, “Is that really you? What happened to you? I will be back.” I sat by that building until dark. They never came back. I missed dinner. The way they looked at me when they asked “What happened to you?” I wanted to scream, “Stop looking at me!”

A member of VOICE first met Mary here at Paradise Park. “I think about the first time we met and how many times we sat in the park talking before she was bold enough to come inside,” her VOICE partner remembers.

Finding Help

I heard those words in my head every day over the next year. “Stop looking at me.” By the time somebody found me, that could help my situation, I was angry, withdrawn, mistrusting of almost everyone.

But this one was different because she didn’t look at me. She made me feel like I was a human being. I listened to her, followed her advice. She built me up on the inside and gave me the “inner strength” that I needed to get myself out of the park, out of the elements, and into a place, with my dogs. Safe!

My story doesn’t end there. It continues. I still have issues. I don’t like to leave my house, mostly because my ex stalks me, watches me, and makes me still want to yell, “Stop looking at me!” But life continues. I deal with my issues and live my life day by day. A little bit healthier, a little bit warmer, a little bit safer, and with a new outlook on life. I feel like I have been returned to humanity.

“A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from human lips; not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself,” once wrote Henry David Thoreau.

What if …

Being homeless will take you to unbelievable places. It drives you mad, makes you angry, removes you from life.

What if… what if everyone came together and demanded “that new housing be built.” What if everyone came together and pulled money out of their pockets for a construction company to build a place for the homeless to go, a privately-owned building. There are so many plans that never get put into action. So many ideas that never leave the paper. The thing though that is so overlooked, the thing that would help so many people…is to stop looking at them.

When you see someone on the edge of a building, down on their luck, homeless, try as you are passing by to put your hand on their shoulder, look them in the eye and simply say, “try to have a better day friend.” When you see someone who has the desire to not be desperate anymore, sit next to them in the park, start a conversation. Something, anything to remind them that they are still human beings. 

Story by Mary with VOICE shared with Our Town Reno

Timothy Doss, from Going Undercover Homeless to Donating Removed Appliances

Going Undercover

When we first met Timothy Doss, he was taking part in an outreach program several years ago, living the life of a homeless person for 72 hours, with dirty clothes, just a backpack, and no money, relying on food lines to eat while sleeping in hidden spots overnight.

“I actually tried to go in a few establishments and I was shunned upon,” he remembers. “I felt the lowest I've ever felt in my life. Like I didn't belong there… Walking in homeless to a restaurant or anything like that, you're actually shunned upon … Reno is actually a completely different world. It's completely different being homeless than being a regular person. You’ve got to find somewhere to charge your cell phone. We were actually kicked out of the bus station several times and we needed to keep recharging, but we kept getting kicked out.”

He says he believes local elected officials, including Mayor Hillary Schieve, should try the same experiment.

“She should come and try to do [it] completely dressed down and feel what it’s like to be homeless so she can better realize what's going down here. I do dare her to come down here and do that. It would be really cool. That would be something that, you know, even any council member should do and know how Reno is a completely different town [if you’re homeless].

If he comes across items that can help, while removing them, Doss will donate them back to people in need. “We try to turn around and give to the homeless… You know, things that they really need , we get sleeping bags, pillows, we try to bring socks and clothes, stuff they would have to pay for like a fresh set of socks and a fresh set of shoes. And I mean, they're not brand new, but the items we bring can definitely be reused,” Doss said. Photo by Jordan Blevins and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Giving Back

Doss, a graduate of Reno High, not only gives items he comes across to the homeless, but also to those who are struggling and moving into new housing.

“We will try to furnish your apartment with whatever used goods we have. .. very clean beds, tvs,” he said. “It's not perfect stuff, but it will definitely get you started. Maybe some dish ware, clothing and stuff like that. A lot of people, when you got to start moving someplace … something bad happened where you had to move and you left everything. We try to furnish your house. It's not the best things in the world, but you can always upgrade, but it's something that you can definitely live with, with the kids.”

A single father taking care of five kids, he also sets an example for them to give back as well.

“My sons are very in tune with the homeless,” he said. “We happened to go to McDonald's a couple of days ago and my son got his allowance and he saw there was a homeless person sitting there and he took his allowance out of his pocket. He walked up and bought them lunch. That is just the most amazing experience that I can pass it on to my kids,” he said.

“There's a lot of people that really need help,” Doss said during our interview as he was out at the main homeless shelter. “There needs to be more programs for the mentally unstable … We have a lot of them wandering around. There's definitely drugs and alcohol with the homeless, but there's a lot of people that have just fallen really bad on their luck that shouldn't be here and there should be more programs,” he said. Photo by Jordan Blevins and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Feeling the Pain

Doss says he recently struggled to find new housing for himself and sees that while there is growth going on in Reno, there is also an affordable housing crisis.

“I personally just moved and it is really hard to get an apartment,” he said. “Everything is overpriced… the motels are getting demolished. All the motels downtown are leaving now and there's less and less places to go. And me having a job, having money, it was actually hard for me to actually find a place that I needed to go through because it's getting so expensive. Anything that does come up for rent, people are throwing three, four, five months worth of rent and it's, it's hard. It's hard out there.”

He says Reno is a beautiful place with a tight knight community but that there’s a risk the Biggest Little City could lose some of its soul if it doesn’t do a better job helping those in need.

“There's two towns. there's really just two towns. You don't realize it until you're down there and you're homeless. You have zero money. You can't walk into a restaurant … You're being kicked out because the way you look. I say to everybody, if you see a homeless person, smile, and that might be the best thing that's happened to them all day.”

He says going undercover also made him realize how kind homeless people can be.

“They knew we weren't eating. One of the homeless actually brought some food to me … They're probably the best people in the world that they will actually give you the shirt off their back instead of somebody that's just living a regular life.”

“There's other people that have a junk removal companies and they're trying to figure out the way to do it,” Doss said of growing his own business model. “I do actually teach. I do have a channel where I do teach people how to start a junk removal company. And it’s got a few thousand subscribers. They watch the channel religiously. I put out videos every day,” he said. Photo by Jordan Blevins and reporting by Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno.

Growing his Karma Business Model

Doss said he is planning to grow his model into other cities.

“We're actually talking about going some other towns almost like franchising and we're trying to give back to the community, Karma based businesses,” he said. “We're just trying to get it bigger and get the word out and have a better business across the US and it's gonna grow. It's gonna get big.”

He says everyone should think of their own karma when encountering homeless residents in Reno.

“Next time you see the person on the street and you say something rude or derogatory, they're in that position for a reason. Some people don't belong down here, but they are, because of a physical disability or something. Some people fall back on hard times. Some people fall on drugs and alcohol. Try to see if they need something, don't give too much but give an open heart. And definitely it could be you holding that sign…”

Reporting by Jordan Blevins and Prince Nesta for Our Town Reno

Quinn, Helping Others while Living Out of His Car

At-Risk Youth Giving Back

Quinn, 21, was part of a group of teenagers and young adults serving food recently at the shelter on Record street. He’s helping though he himself is living out of his own vehicle.

“We all have varying degrees of education and we’re living with parents or living alone or some of us are living on the streets as well. We understand how important it is to get people food and water and we just want to help people,” he said.

Like the others in this program he is a high school dropout. “I was super stupid and I was like, I'm going to be a musician and go into the world and you know, that doesn't always work out ... So, you know, finding a job has been difficult but this program has helped me not only find a job, but they give a stipend every week for education that you find. Come the 15th, I'll have a place,” he assured us when we met him.

“Young people should try their best to get out there. It seems like, especially when you're down in the dumps and down into the negative, it seems like that's all there is. But there's a lot of life out there. There's a lot of life to live, especially as a young person. You owe it to yourself and your future self especially to get out there and help people and help yourself,” Quinn (left) said. Members of the YouthBuild program pose in front of the Children’s Cabinet bus which dropped them off to do community service. Photo by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

Moving Forward Again

Quinn says the Children’s Cabinet run program has given him new incentive to find a better track for himself. “I have regrets about my life getting me to this point, but this is now life less about regret and more about fixing mistakes and just getting myself moving forward again. They're helping me move along in my education to get my high school diploma. That kind of stuff is very, very helpful for somebody my age. Just direction and structure rather than just aimless wandering.”

Reporting by Prince Nesta and photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Joy, An Artist-Philosopher 'Trying to Find a Landing Spot'

Moving Around

Joy, 40, says she’s previously lived in many other states, including Texas, Colorado, Florida, New York, Arizona, Missouri, Maryland, Illinois and California.

”I was on my way back to California and kinda got stuck here,” she said when we met her by the Truckee River in downtown Reno and offered her a cup of coffee. “Well, I just didn't get my stuff together. Because I was overwhelmed with what I felt my potential was and how many different directions that drew me, not wanting to find specialties and trying to figure out just how many specialties I could have,” she said as a way of introduction.

She’s worked many jobs, include office jobs, filing paperwork and doing mail deliveries, or working as a barista at a vegetarian restaurant and coffee shop. Her favorite job was when she was a ceramics assistant while going to college in Colorado.

“It is something you really have to have a studio setup as well and it can be thousands and thousands of dollars. You can build one technically speaking, out of a barrel or a trash can. I like to make hand sculpted objects, like coil pots. I am really good at coil pots, actually. You just roll out a coil. It's like a Native American method that they do. I learned all this stuff at a small private college in Denver but I didn't stay there for long,” she said.

“Some of them are tattoos and some of them are things I have just been doodling because I wanted to doodle and stuff,” she said when asked for the meanings of the inscriptions on her hands. “I like philosophy, it helps me ponder and explore the nature of reality itself.” Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

On Being Homeless in Reno

Joy says she’s been homeless for about a year now. She says she fled the threat of violence elsewhere, and also got her ID and bank card stolen. She says she usually sleeps outside next to friends, for protection, but avoids the shelter, where she says she has had bad experiences.

“I'm fed up with it and I am really looking to find my landing spot,” she said.  “It's rough out here if you ask me, because I am not used to this climate and environment and I don't have the physical habits of adapting that quickly. I didn't embark on my journey planning on just camping out or being homeless per say… I had planned well enough that I should have been able to get rooms along the way but then all my stuff got stolen.”

Joy says she hasn’t figured out how to find a purpose in society, and that others also create setbacks for her. “Someone did threaten to kill me once and it terrified me but that's a totally different story. I just meant the circumstances I was in, I was just feeling so miserable and despite all my best efforts to work on my goals, to do something meaningful, it just wasn't working.”

“It represents the Third Eye. I drew from the Hindu tradition … and it was a very spontaneous decision actually and it just felt like exactly the right thing to do. The first basic step, I would say it represents, is kind of an insight into the understanding of how you work… insight into being able to apprehend... perhaps visionary capabilities like the ability to shift your perspective and put yourself in someone else's shoes, so to speak. Even literally, like trying something that allows you a different perspective.” Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

Looking for Intelligent Conversation 

”Coffee, cigarettes, pot, food, water, money, intelligent conversation, music for dancing too. These are things that will enable me to put my skills to work and to get money and make some for myself, to build a career for myself and express my talents. The things I mentioned first, some people think of them as drugs but I think of them as medicine and drugs to be used,” she said when asked what passersby could offer if they wanted to help her.

She says she has newfound respect for those living on the streets for a long time.

“It’s rough out here and I respect and admire anyone who has done it for a long time…. It is also hard to get work or respect sometimes or even what you need without people trying to wrangle you into their weird schemes. Or manipulate you in some way …” she said of how those without housing often become a prey for others.

“I love to dance. It’s one of my favorite things to do. And sing, and I love art. I found my skirt at a great store here,” she said, finding some hope in her new life in Reno. Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno.

Nicotine, Experimenting with Drugs and Hoping for Brighter Days

When we first asked to do this interview, she hesitated, and then said she needed to find a cigarette first. “It picks you up and calms you down at the same time and there is almost nothing else on the planet quite like it for that and I like to be in that state. I like to be alert and calm. The things that help me do that are coffee, marijuana and cigarettes. And I feel like I have been forced to give up on those various things and I have found I am on my peak performance using all three,” she said.

“I have experimented with some other things, mainly psychedelics, like mushrooms, acid... I don't look at myself as addicted to drugs. I look at myself as an experimenter in consciousness finding adaptogens that make my life better,” she added.

Any regrets? “I have a few and it’s mostly to do with what I have done which felt necessary that has hurt anyone in any way. My future is brightening. I feel like I am figuring out what I can do to start something. I hope to leave a legacy. No kids yet. I do still want to get married someday,” she said as we parted ways.

  
Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno

Christian, From a Childhood on the Streets to Jail to Now Helping Others

Christian says even when it’s not mandated by the YouthBuild program he tries to organize his own volunteer events to give back to the community.

“A lot of us from experience have lived on the streets. We have lived with no home, no food, no shelter,” he said as he helped pass around healthy sandwiches and water bottles on a sunny fall day at the downtown shelter in Reno.

“I do this quite often,” he said. “I'm out here probably every month or so.”

“You might seem like everything's gone down, really rough, but you will get out of it. Just push yourself to strive yourself to do better,” Christian advised to other youth who are going through tough times. Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins.

A Life Without Any Stability

Christian says he lived on the streets from birth until he was five in San Jose. “It was just stuff happening with my family,” he remembers. “My mom ended up going to prison.”

His grandmother was able to get housing through the Reno Housing Authority so he moved to the Biggest Little City. But he said living on Neil Road where he ended up brought its own problems.

“I got around the wrong people. I was a smart kid. I could've graduated a year early, had scholarships, but I decided to mess around with the wrong people and it led me down the wrong path.”

His mother struggled again to make ends meet. “My mom just had gotten a house and she was struggling to feed my sister. My brother, he moved out. I moved out and I was just tired of seeing my family struggle, tired of them deciding whether they want to spend money on rent or buy food to feed my little sister.”

“It makes me feel better that they actually have food and actual water to drink. It's good to be considerate,” Christian said of being part of a program which helps at the shelter. “The shelter is actually, it's been packed since I don't know when….,” he added. “I think we need more shelters. We need job opportunities for these people in the shelters So they could provide for the family they have or just themselves.” Reporting by Prince Nesta with photography by Jordan Blevins.

Turning his Life Around

When we met him, Christian said he was getting his GED, and preparing to apply to go to college and also joining the national guard.

“I've had a lot of bad happen in my life, but thanks for that, thanks to all my experiences, I am who I am today, so I don't think I regret anything,” he said.

He had more advice for youth who might be struggling. “You have the chance to change it. Go to school. I know it seems like a pain and nobody likes school, but it's just something you have to do. If you really want to succeed, go to a high school, graduate, you don't need to go to college, just make sure you have the basics so you can prevail in life,” he said.

Reporting by Prince Nesta with Photography by Jordan Blevins for Our Town Reno