HopeSprings, a New Bridge Housing Project Still Faces Financial Hurdles to Open

Wraparound Services On Site

“We've got 30 tiny homes that are 92 square feet each,” Chris Fegert, Philanthropy Partnerships Manager at Northern Nevada Hopes, said during a recent tour. “Then the big community center is over 3,000 square feet and has all the other services: bathrooms, laundry, showers, kitchen and lockers. There's also offices where individuals can have private meetings with primary health care providers, a behavioral health care specialist, a therapist or access group therapy. These [facilities] were very intentional in how they were designed.”

The tiny homes themselves will have a twin bed, a nightstand and a dresser inside. Each of the units will be equipped with air conditioning and heating, while also featuring donated art work from Nevada Fine Arts. The tiny homes will be complete with a small porch, deck chair and storm door to provide a personal, home-like feel for residents but accessing the community center and other services will be key. 

“Our CEO, Sharon Chamberlain, lived on the streets as well,” Fegert said. “She said that when she was experiencing homelessness, she felt invisible and isolated. So when I say these houses were intentionally created, it’s because we don't want [the residents] to stay in their [tiny] home. We want them to be in the community center and interacting with each other. We'll have all different types of services available while they're here learning new skills,” Fegert added. “Like resume building, for instance. Many residents will be working and saving their money so when they move out, they will potentially have their first month’s rent and a deposit.”

The HopeSprings campus will be a dry and drug-free campus. However unlike most shelters, residents will be able to keep their pets, with a small dog park set to be built on the West side of the property.

Nevada Hopes has been hosting tours for media and local officials as the opening of the tiny homes village draws nearer but has been delayed due to fundraising shortfalls.

Easy Access to Quality Health Care

Aside from job search and resume-building services, cooking classes will also be offered for residents at HopeSprings. The property will have a community garden and fruit trees, and residents will be able to utilize the community center’s kitchen to prepare their own meals. A barbecue and fire pit will also be featured on the property behind the community center’s two roll-up garage doors.

Inside the community center, on-site laundry services will be available as well as lockers for individual residents. Although the property itself will be fenced in and have 24/7 security on-site, the community center and all its amenities will be accessible via a fob key that residents will be given. 

For Northern Nevada Hopes, they believe they are in a unique position to take this more holistic approach in supporting the homeless community in Reno.

“Northern Nevada Hopes is a primary care medical clinic and a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC),” Fegert said. “So on-site at Northern Nevada Hopes on East Fourth Street, we have primary health care, behavioral health, case management, a pharmacy and a lab. So we have all these different resources for an individual who is disenfranchised.”

According to Fegert, 25% of the patients seen at Northern Nevada Hopes are experiencing homelessness. With a bridge housing project like HopeSprings, some of these patients will be able to receive that primary care and other services, all in one location. 

“[Hopesprings] allows them to get all of their needs met on one campus,” Fegert said. “That's important because folks that maybe don't have a vehicle, have a large family, or are working per hour and need to see a primary care doctor, go to the pharmacy or get lab work done might otherwise miss a full day of work to do that. So this allows that person to access both healthcare and also housing.”

In order to stay at HopeSprings, Fegert said prospective residents will have to undergo an intense vetting process to ensure they will be a good fit for the community and its programs. “[Prospective residents] will go through some deep questionnaires of what their housing has been in the past,” she said. “What are their addiction issues? What do their family life and relationships look like? We will look at the person as a whole and then we can establish if [HopeSprings] is going to be a good fit for that person.”

Extensive Screening for “Good Fits”

Part of the screening process will include so-called “motivational Interviewing” to determine what a prospective resident’s goals will be for the end of their temporary, transitional four-to-six month stay.

“Not everyone that's living on the streets is indeed motivated and willing to do the work,” Fegert said. “This program here is a 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM program. So they really have to be motivated and have to be emotionally and mentally ready for this.”

With a bridge housing project like this, there will be significant financial benefits for the community and its taxpayers, as well. 

“Homelessness not only affects the homeless individual themselves, but it also is affecting our taxpayers who help fund jails, hospitals, social services and shelters,” Fegert said. “According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, chronically homeless individuals often cycle in and out of our emergency departments, inpatient hospitals, psychiatric centers and detox programs and that results in a high public cost averaging about $35,578 taxpayer dollars each year.”

Consequently, Northern Nevada Hopes estimates that for each person staying at HopeSprings for each four-to-six month period, the taxpayer cost will go down from $35,578 to about $14,226 per person. With the difference being about $21,000 saved in taxpayer costs and if HopeSprings moves 60 people through the property each year, an approximate amount of $1,281,000 in public costs will be saved in the community, according to her calculations. 

A bridge housing project like this will not only save taxpayers’ money, but also lengthen the life expectancy of those experiencing homelessness.

“Research shows that homelessness directly affects health,” Fegert said. “The average life expectancy for someone that's experiencing homelessness is 50 years for a man and 43 years for a woman. That's an average of 27 years lost per person. So not only is this important for saving our taxpayers and saving our community money, but we're giving people their lives and their dignity back.”

Our mission aligns with that of HopeSprings and I see it as a duty, a responsibility and an obligation that we have to help these individuals to get back on their feet,” Eric Schmacker, CEO of Silver Summit Health Plan who recently traveled from Las Vegas to see HopeSprings in person. “This community provides them with an opportunity where they can recover, have some privacy, recuperate and learn new skills.”

Still in Need of Funding

Although the tiny homes are now complete, the community center and the rest of the property are still undergoing construction, with the goal of HopeSprings being completed and taking in residents by early 2021.

To support that fundraising effort, Silver Summit Health Plan in Las Vegas recently made a $100,000 donation to HopeSprings. With an anonymous donor who pledged to match every donation up to $400,000; Silver Summit’s donation meant getting closer to the final fundraising goal, with $1.6 million out of a needed $2.5 million already reported to have been raised as of last week.

Schmacker attests that at Silver Summit, an FQHC like Northern Nevada Hopes, they understand the influence stable shelter can play in determining an individual’s health.

“FQHCs see a lot of Medicaid members and take care of them from a clinical standpoint,” Schmaker said. “So we know that it's not just about providing immunizations or caring for a wound that an individual has, but that there's also social determinants of health. One of the determinants being housing, so this project hits right at one of those social determinants of health and helps these individuals get back on their feet by providing them that housing.”

When asked about his biggest takeaways after a tour of the property, Schmacker was impressed by the dichotomy of both community and privacy that HopeSprings will offer residents. 

“It has a community area where food will be served, where individuals can congregate and they can create relationships,” Schmacker said. “But it also has space where they can get away and have some privacy as well. It really has a home feeling to it and a community type of feeling to it, and that's what struck me.”

Fegert and Northern Nevada Hopes are excited that HopeSprings can be one piece of the puzzle to address the affordable housing crisis, but acknowledge that much more needs to be done.

“Homelessness is a big problem across the nation,” Fegert said. “We have had two times the increase in homelessness since 2009. We know that one in seven Nevadans live below the federal poverty line and COVID will exacerbate this as well. This is just a start and we need more of these bridge housing projects to help individuals succeed in getting off the streets.”

Reporting by Scott King for Our Town Reno