Countering Vigilante Threats
The Reno Initiative for Equality and Shelter non-profit is currently reviving the push to establish a SafeGround, which by definition is “a legally recognized land area for use by people experiencing homelessness.”
“Essentially instead of continually running down camps, we would provide the needed infrastructure to make them more functional. So, porta-potties, waste management, and then security,” Benjamin Castro from RISE explained to us. Find the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/board-of-county-commissioners-washoe-county-dedicate-land-to-a-safeground-in-washoe-county-07d9c205-d625-4908-923d-3e493de0558c and read a Q and A with Castro below on this and other projects to help those without shelter.
Q: Why the need for a so-called SafeGround and how would it help our neighbors without stable shelter?
A: “Our philosophy is, look, these people are already managing to survive on their own. All they need is just a little bit of support and a little bit of, permission essentially. If there's complaints about waste management, if there's complaints about, you know, no bathrooms, well then let's provide that with minimal infrastructure and let's get them the protection they need from other community members. “
Q: What are the immediate needs now for the homeless population as winter approaches, and what about other much talked about ongoing projects to help with the affordable housing crisis?
A: “We're calling for the overflow tents again. At Sage Street (Village on Sage Street dormitories), we’ve heard dorms are only at 50% occupancy. And I'd say that's probably because of their high qualifiers . The Tiny Homes (HopeSprings Tiny Homes Village) project is still in its fundraising phase, so that hasn't kicked off. And then in response to the recent vigilante actions by QOL, honestly, we think it's time to, to start endorsing some of these camps and make them functional and give them the same protection that every other citizen in this community deserves.”
Castro on the right of the photo hopes the new community volunteer meal location could be combined with the SafeGround, all the while empowering those being helped. “Maybe they can help clean up, maybe they can be the security, so that we don't have to kick them out at 7:00 AM. They can also set the tone for how these dinners are gonna go. If you give them ownership of the project as opposed to just being a recipient, then it'll grow. It'll give them them more incentive to get involved. So we’ve pitched that. The new dinner location should go in tandem with either an overflow tent or some sort of sanctioned camp ground, or the SafeGround we are pushing for.”
Uncertainties over Shelter Location for Women and Children, Community Meals and Overflow Winter Tent
Q: What about the idea for a new, separate campus for women and children in the Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services campus?
A: “We do have an update that that's not happening this year. So again, another year where things get delayed and I'm not trying to give grief to the organizations that are pushing for those projects. I absolutely understand that delays happen. Money is everybody's problem. But this is our third year now to where we've talked about hosting people at NNAMHS. We've talked about putting people at the Tiny Homes and then none of those have happened yet and it's winter 2019 and we need to start worrying about, besides just the elements, now we have to start worrying about vigilantes who maybe next time they won't make a Facebook event about going around and breaking up camps. Maybe they'll just do it without telling anybody. So that's what we're afraid of. Besides just trying to survive the harsh winters of this area, we're also afraid that people might start being harassed by community members.”
Q: What about the new proposed location for community meals across from Hooten Tire company on 4th street?
A: “I really appreciate the Truckee Meadows Water Authority for offering up that space. My issue with it is that by my understanding it's a very short term lease agreement. It's only two years, and it has to be renewed every year. One of the biggest reasons why we were on board with relocating the dinner services, was that we really enjoyed the idea of having a park or a parcel that was being underutilized. And then once all the meal providers get together and start serving there, start setting a tone that over time it would be a public park where this is where service providers go. So it seemed like a great legacy to leave behind, you know, 20, 30 years from now, after we're all done serving and other people have come in and they started serving again that we have a nice park with nice benches, maybe some fruit trees that was once just a dirt lot. But only having a two year lease on that lot is kind of discouraging because anything we build there is just gonna end up getting wiped away anyways.
I'm hopeful that if we do this right and we get a lot of community engagement and we engage the people that we're serving that yeah, we can beautify that area. We can make it nice. We can make it somewhere where you want to go and you want to reach out and you want to perform outreach, as opposed to we'll just put you over here for now and then hopefully in a couple of years we'll figure something else out.
I'm hearing the move will happen as early as November 1st. I know that other meal providers have some issues with the location as far as transportation. We still haven't seen benches, for people to sit down and enjoy their meal. There needs to be better coordination.”
In October, RISE meals were still taking place Saturday nights on Record street. There are ongoing discussions going on as to where a new overflow shelter tent will also be placed. “It made much more sense for us to have the overflow tent and the dinner site for the dinner services performed at the same site,” Castro said. “If we don't like the new site, and we've told them this before too, at of the first preliminary meetings that if we don't have the infrastructure that we need to be successful, which is again, porta-potties, waste management, parking, lighting, if you make us fight for our own, then we will choose a park of our own accord that's convenient for us, that's convenient for the people we serve. Don't be surprised if a tent city just pops up there. So we either do this together and we do it right. Or we do it on our own because I'm not going to be set up for failure.”
Q: We are seeing a court case from Boise and efforts in Las Vegas to make camping illegal. Is poverty being criminalized?
A: “Absolutely. You know that we do have a lot of friends in the county and there are some friends in the city who genuinely want to help, who are in my opinion, actual problem solvers who are compassionate. And they have the connections to kind of connect all the dots, but it's also an image problem too. I think for the city, I think it's obvious that they don't want to deal with this issue or that they spend a lot of money on the Community Assistance Center on Record street. And they think that that should be enough. It's hard to say, but honestly I would say that, yeah, it definitely feels like there's a lot of community resources out there that we're not taking advantage of as a city, as a community really. And it's making it harder for people to get involved.”
Q: What about the recent #BringSomeLove movement at Pickett Park to counter the vigilante threats?
A: “I definitely see it as a catalyst and that's part of the reason why we've revived this petition. It’s definitely a catalyst for people who didn't know where to start or didn't know how to get involved. And one of the biggest things for our organization is just giving people permission to get involved. And I think that's what a lot of organizations lack. You can join us, you can see what we're doing. But honestly, if you see a problem out there, and nobody's addressing it or nobody's fixing it, then that makes you in charge. You don't need anybody's permission to get involved, to help your neighbor. So hopefully we're trying to garner some of that support. The petition is an easy one. Hey, there are people out here surviving anyways. Instead of spending a bunch of money to stop it or to try to hide it from the public eye, why don't we just endorse it? It would be half the cost to get to get some dumpsters, and some hand washing stations and some port-a-potties. And they would appreciate the support and wouldn't be so resentful and their neighbors, community members wouldn't be so resentful as well if we facilitated their growth as opposed to always trying to stomp it out. I mean, honestly, if we spent half the time actually facilitating this community's growth as opposed to shuffling them out of public eye, then we'd probably be in a lot better spot.”
“We usually set up around 4:15 to start distributing clothing and hygiene products,” Castro said of the Saturday night setup. “Then we'll share a meal and break some bread and share some smiles. I think really the more important thing besides feeding the body is just letting people feel normal for a moment. Actually recognizing them as a person, letting them understand how much pain they're actually in and then just asking them to keep fighting.”