photos by Jose Olivares
Gretchen James, 40, a recovering alcoholic, domestic abuse victim, and pain pill addict has been living for half a year in a rental unit on the 600 block of Lake street in downtown Reno, paid for by a local rehab program.
Gretchen James is staying positive even though she faces displacement from a block with affordable rents, which is about to be demolished to give way to high end student housing. Photo by Jose Olivares
James gets $550 from the program which is what she is paying in rent for her unit, utilities and furniture included. She says it took her several months to find it, and that here, she’s found the friends and strength to finally stay sober. But the unit is part of an old house scheduled to be demolished later this year to give way to high end student housing.
The old house where James is renting has some of the most affordable prices in downtown Reno and is conveniently close to the main bus station. Photo by Jose Olivares
“I’m really worried about it,” James said on a recent Sunday afternoon, while smoking a cigarette on a creaky porch, while other residents filed out for afternoon walks. “It’s putting us in a lurch. I don’t think we should all be kicked out. Right now, I have no idea when I’m going to have to look for another place. I’m a convicted felon, and there’s a lot of places that won’t take felons.”
A graffiti on the block set for demolition reads "The Struggle's Real". Many current residents said they heard about the plan for student housing in the newspaper. Photo by Jose Olivares.
James says the price and the location of her unit near Reno’s bus station works well for her, as she also gets a bus pass to go to her different service providers.
A Very Difficult Past
James spent 15 months in prison in the state in 2011 and 2012 for altering a prescription for Oxycontin. She says she then ‘violated’ her parole when she tried to commit suicide by mixing alcohol and Ambien.
After that, she bounced around different rehab programs in Reno and lived in the women’s homeless shelter in Reno for a while.
James is trying hard to get her life back on track, but says the forthcoming displacement will be a serious challenge. Photo by Jose Olivares
Hard Times at the Women's Homeless Shelter
“There’s lots of stealing in there,” James said. “You can’t have any nice things or money or anything like that. We had lockers but if you have anything out on the bed and don’t think about it, it’s gone. When you live in the shelter you get street smart, you learn to survive.”
A view of the old home where James and other current residents live, scheduled to be bulldozed away.
Out of a Job, But in Rehab and Still Hopeful
James lost her most recent job at a phone survey company due to health problems. She is bipolar, and still suffers from depression and severe anxiety. She has weak ankles, but is avoiding pain medication. James has a degree in office medical technology and hopes to get a clerical job. She also wants to get another degree.
What drives her to remain positive, she says, is seeing her three kids again, who live with her estranged husband, elsewhere in Nevada.
Hoping to See Her Kids Again
“I want to see my kids and if I relapse, then it’s not happening, it’s not worth it to me. I already went to prison and basically, my husband, he was abusive anyway, so it’s probably a good thing we’re not together, but basically, I haven’t seen them for five-six years. If I drink or do drugs, I’m going to lose them and then it’s just a matter of when you live in the shelter a couple of times, you just get a kind of a will .”
The block of old homes with affordable rentals scheduled to be bulldozed away is close to lots of services and the bus station.
Fighting for Custody and Her Life
James has a pro bono lawyer helping her out try to get custody of her children. But she’s afraid being forced out of her current unit will turn her life upside down, just as she’s trying so hard to get her life back on track. She says on this block there are many other stories just as difficult as hers
Another home on the cutting block. James says a lot of elderly resident live on the block, and will also be in a lurch to find rentals at similar prices, after they are displaced.