Q: What’s behind getting rid of motels across Reno?
Mayor Schieve: Many of the motels weren't built for longterm housing, right. And they really had a shelf life of about 40 to 50 years. So many of them were incredibly dilapidated. We saw a ton of mold, you know, roofs caving in, water not running, many broken pipes. We've found a lot of rooms that had bedding that hadn't been changed in 20 years. You know that really was a huge concern because we started to get a lot of complaints from people that were living in these motels and, you know, saying that, the conditions were really horrendous. So, you know, I went out there with code enforcement and we started to look at them and also noticed a lot of broken windows.
Most of these people didn't even have heat. And then looking into it even further, we found out that many of those rooms were about $300 a week. And if you do the math, that's $1,200 a month for a motel room. And remember, a motel room is not even an apartment. It's one room that's about 200 square feet. And if you do the math on that, the cost is outrageous. That is not affordable housing, that is not adequate housing and no one should be able to or should be subjected to those types of conditions….
One of the things is I just am a strong believer that people should not be subjected to those types of living conditions. And remember in the motel rooms, they don't have kitchenettes. So it's very difficult for people living in them to live healthy, right? Like, think about it. You can cook daily meals and, you know, nutrition and things like that, you know, having to seek outside food services, which can become costly and expensive, or eating fast food, right, which we know isn't always the healthiest.
So, kind of looking at some of those things, motels versus regular housing, right. And just because someone can't afford certain types of housing doesn't mean that they should be subjected to living in deplorable conditions without running water, without heat, without proper bedding, those kinds of things. And that's what was really, really disturbing. Many of those were motels that you couldn't save because they were so dilapidated.
But we found that there was a lot of predatory landlords, what we call them, sort of taking advantage of people that couldn't afford certain living conditions. And that's where I got really strict on saying, ‘Hey, these motels have to come down.’ And also looking at the people that live in them, how do we get them better housing options, working with the Reno Housing Authority and being able to place them, getting them vouchers, things of that nature.
And so we really learned a lot through the process. But you know, I, I'm a big believer that that is not affordable housing whatsoever.
“We also found that many of the people living in them, you know, obviously had certain reasons, like for one, this one woman, her credit wasn't very good,” Mayor Schieve said of people living in motels such as the Sundance. “And so by not having great credit, she couldn't get into an apartment. And we also found that some of the [residents] had prior evictions, which made it incredibly challenging for people to find adequate housing. So really kind of paying attention to why people were going to motels, you know, for what reasons. And how could we help with that.”
Q: So what is the plan to help people being displaced by the torn down motels?
Mayor Schieve: If someone is going to take down a motel, they have to be relocated before we even start demolition. So that's really been a priority for the Council. So when they started to come down, you know, we weren't aware of the drastic conditions. Right. And so then we got extremely active and we're working very closely with the new developers before any of those motels come down. And I think that's what's really key. And it has to be better housing… It needs to be better options…
We were also finding practices like renting rooms for the hour. And that was really unfortunate. Now I'm not saying everyone is a bad actor, so we’ve got to make sure that everyone knows that, right? Not all of the motels are bad and not all of them have conditions to that magnitude, right? There are some really good owners and operators and we really want to commend them, right? But we also looked at our calls for service to some of them that had very high crime rates.
And we were finding that they were renting rooms by the hour. Right now we don't know exactly what they're doing in those rooms, but I think we can sort of speculate that if you're renting by the hour, that's probably not good. They weren't requiring them to have ID and knowing who you are …
So with Jeff Jacobs (development along 4th street, now called Reno Neon Line) he has saved the (motels) that he could and has renovated them and either put some of those tenants back into the renovated properties or moved them into other properties that were much better. And we had him document all those people to make sure they were accounted for and that they also received money, like, first and last month’s deposit. Many of them, he didn't make pay rent for six months …. (Note: this information could not be independently verified by Our Town Reno). He's really been a true champion of working with the city. And I think that's what makes a huge difference is working with the developers, to make sure that these people have places to go and are treated like human beings.
Some people we’ve interviewed in recent months and who now live on the streets said they became homeless after the motel they were living was demolished amid news expansion.
Q: Do the people displaced from the motels now have enough money to afford places elsewhere in Reno?
Mayor Schieve: Well, a lot of them ended up getting vouchers through the Reno Housing Authority. And what that means is it's basically subsidized right through the government, through HUD programs. And they pay for a big portion of that housing. So a lot of times, you get a voucher for seven, $800 a month. Now you also do have to qualify. There are certain things like, you can't be a sex offender … There's certain things to be able to qualify for that and they also look at your income. That's one of the things, when we talk about subsidies through the government, the government makes it really challenging, that if you make too much money, then you also don't qualify… Let's say you make, $1,200, $1,300 a month, I'm just putting a number out there that's not a lot of money.
And then the government says, ‘Hey, you make too much.’ So there is that, that can be very, very challenging, you know, for people to continue to find housing. But we really work very hard with the developers to make sure that that [new] housing is better housing and we know for a fact that it is what Jeff Jacobs is doing. [Mayor Schieve referred to how as part of the new development Crest Inn was changed to the Renova Flats and suggested we check it out. This story includes our attempts to do so: http://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2018/12/14/jacobs-entertainment-and-its-local-globe-of-influence].
You want a developer that comes into your city and is going to put in better conditions than what you already have. And again, that's why it's important to work with developers and say, ‘Hey, these are the things that matter to us. These are the standards that matter to us. These are the conditions that matter to us, right?’ So they understand if they want to build in our city, that that's the things that we're going to expect.
And now again, we can't make them, it's PR, you know, they own this land, right? So they could essentially do whatever they want, but you make it very clear that, if you want to be in Reno and building your business and, you know, building a lifestyle here, it needs to be a much better quality than what they were used to [here.]
This motel is also on the cutting block as UNR and bus services expand in areas between the current university campus and downtown areas. “We're playing on the aspects of the university, which I love, like March to the Arch and things like that and bringing in that vibrant university feel into our downtown. Unfortunately, I think, our past governments have really looked over is how important the university and the [university] energy are and really trying to foster that type of environment for our students. So they want to go to school here and stay here when they're done and sort of avoid the brain drain. And I think that's really key to revitalizing downtown.”
Q: You’ve launched an initiative called Blight Buster but what you consider blight others might consider Reno’s history, including the old motel signs. How do you react to comments like that?
Mayor Schieve: I think there are certain things that are history. So it depends on what you're referring to.
I think that's subjective. It would depend on what property or location or structure you're referring to. In terms of the motel signs, we keep them and we preserve them. There's an artist who I absolutely love and he's amazing and his name is Will Durham and you should check him out. And he buys a lot of those signs, before they're torn down. I love history. I was born and raised in Reno and so I love to preserve, any of the old Reno history that we can. And I love neon, and it's very collectible, so he collects them…
I'm a big believer in, if you can first renovate and preserve, I think that that's really important. But a lot of times what people don't understand is the cost to preserve a lot of that is so much more expensive for the developer. And remember they own that property. They have rights to that property. So you can't make them preserve an existing structure….
You know, that's becoming very popular in cities, is to take these 1960 properties that might not look great now and then sort of restore them kind of back to the original condition, but with a little bit of modern technology, right? I'd love to see more developers really sort of take on, you know, the mentality of preserving our history. But again, sometimes the cost is really challenging and also they own that property.
Of being called a “bulldozer queen” by a political opponent in the last mayoral contest, Mayor Schieve said: “This job certainly comes with a lot of criticisms, a lot. It’s a tough job. It’s not easy, but I was born and raised here. I love this city. And we did definitely bulldoze several motels downtown that were unsafe. Again, like I told you, they were deplorable and I just won't tolerate, landlords being slumlords. And I have to take a hard line approach because I want them to know that those conditions are not okay for people to live in.” Photo above is of the Carriage Inn as it was bulldozed away as part of the Jacobs development project on 4th street.
Q: Do you see any drawbacks to this push toward gentrification we see in Reno?
Mayor Schieve: It’s really challenging because of all this success. I always say because of the success, we absolutely have challenges, right? And a lot of times that happens because of supply and demand, right? Because people, what happens is you see these landlords that say, ‘Hey, you know, I know I can get more for rents.’ So they end up moving people out of these places that have lived there for years.
We certainly worry about our most vulnerable populations. And that is our senior citizens, right? So through the Housing Authority, we just bought some land and built an affordable housing complex for seniors and then we are also looking at very creative ways… So let's say it's a two story building [part of a pilot project she explained is in the works]. The seniors will live on the bottom right, because it doesn't make sense for them to live upstairs because there's stairs, right?
And millennials like students and young people like yourself that can't afford a lot would live on the top. Right. And there's this very symbiotic relationship between seniors and millennials. Like as a millennial, you might be able to help, you know, that senior with maybe getting to appointments, right? And then that senior might be an incredible cook, where you're not. Do you see what I'm saying?
So those are some of kind of the innovative ways we're looking at housing differently, right? And these are two populations that typically wouldn't live together, but actually symbiotically can live extremely well together. Not to mention, think about, sort of the knowledge and experience a senior has. Right? And you, and they become kind of like mentors. So that's one of the projects that we're piloting.
We also have a couple of developers who specialize in affordable housing and really have focused on the senior population. And that's really critical to work with those developers to say, ‘Hey, how can we help you?’ And part of that goes along with private and public partnerships… because the city doesn't have a lot of money. But one thing that we do have is land, right? So what we do is we look at the land that we have, we reach out to those developers and say, ‘Hey, we have this land. Would you like to partner with us and build on that land?’ So now you build this private and public partnership and it really does help the community as a whole. Right?
As we grow … public safety becomes so critical, right? We want to have more police and more fire to keep everyone protected because we all want a great quality of life. But as we grow, our tax base doesn't grow and we are the only state that does that, that we have what they call depreciation. And you definitely should look into it because that's what makes it really challenging to expand on the general fund and services like infrastructure, like public safety, like parks. And it really sort of ties the hands of local governments to expand on those services. So we have to figure out other ways that we can pay, you know, for those, those absolute critical services, right? So you need to look it up.
It's property depreciation and it's a property tax cap at 3%. And also what happens, so let's say, on California Avenue, for a two million dollar home, they end up paying the same property tax of 1950s, which doesn't make any sense, right? And now new construction actually pays a much higher tax. We see young people, they can't afford a one million dollar home on California Avenue. So they look at newer options because they're more affordable, right? Well, they end up paying more property tax than that person that's living in a million dollar mansion. That doesn't make sense. Do you see what I'm saying? So there's all these sort of facets that play into the quality of life and the difficulties of expanding these critical services.
And that trickles down. Remember, all of that has a trickle down effect right down to the motels. See what I'm saying? All of that has an impact on our city. So there's all these different facets of why it is challenging, but that one is one of the biggest. Remember where the only state that does that. And if I were you, I would definitely research more about that. I think especially someone like yourself might not be aware of that. Like a lot of students might not really understand our property tax cap and the structure and it's called depreciation. And that's what doesn't allow us to generate the revenue to keep critical services that we need. Does that make sense?
Mayor Schieve touted the former dilapidated King’s Inn turned into the 3rd Street Flats as one of the major accomplishments she helped make happen as part of being on City Council since 2014.
”It was about 30 years that, that sat there,” she said, very proud of its renovation. “I also committed to cleaning up downtown whenever I ran for office and I want our downtown to be the crown jewel of our city, so that our residents and tourists feel safe to come downtown.” According to Wikipedia, she is eligible to run for re-election in 2022 for a third and final term as Mayor.
Q: Our Town Reno has as one of its tag lines, ‘as Reno rebrands what happens to our most vulnerable?’ What are your thoughts on that?
Mayor Schieve: You have to have compassion with action, right? Because it has to be balanced. I think that has some very valid points and I love that, you know, they really pay attention to our most vulnerable, but if we're going to really help those people, we have got to stop being last in the country on mental health and start funding mental health and start funding addiction.
And that is one of my big initiatives. I just created the mayor's board on mental health and addiction. And you know, I know this from, you know, personal reasons, right? I think that's really where we could use the biggest voices is at the legislature to change the structure of how we fund mental health. And there's different ideas whether it's, you know, marijuana licenses.
Everyone I know either struggles with mental health in some capacity or addiction in some capacity.
And if it's not you, it's a family member. And I don't think, you know, that mental health and addiction does not discriminate, right? Like it can happen to anyone. And I think, we have to talk about it more and we have to, we can't brush it under the rug, but it's gotta be about services.
And the fact that we are dead last in the nation on mental health is so unacceptable. And I think that's what, you know, we really have got to start focusing on. We focused on the revitalization, we focused on bringing in jobs and that's all great. But with more people can also become more challenges. And I see so much of it because of being a mayor on the ground level.
Now this is something every city is dealing with. Don't think that this is just Reno. I worked with a lot of mayors and if you go to other big cities, have you been to any big city lately at all? Like San Francisco. This is all across the nation. We absolutely have an issue. And I work with so many other mayors and there's not a magic wand unfortunately, right when it comes to affordable housing and mental health and addiction and things like that, that can make it really challenging for people that need it the most. But we, I think more than ever, we have to be a state that really changes againthe property tax depreciation to look at ways to fund this.
We have to be very compassionate. And then again, a lot of people, they need stabilization and medication and services. Right. And, so we're working on that. But again, like I said, a lot of those activists that you're coming across, you know, have really big hearts and they have a lot of compassion, right? But let's focus on what's going to help them the most. And that's getting them services, that's changing the tax structure that's being at the legislature and saying, we need to stop being last in the nation. Right?