As the winter wears on and the cold remains, Matt, who has been living in a tent along the river at Gateway Park right by Greg Street has to move again. He has camped here for a few months and is no stranger to police sweeps, having experienced them in the past, he says. Due to rising living costs, he simply could not afford the cost of living anymore and has been homeless for a couple of years.
“We used to be able to afford a place, but it’s doubled in a few years,” he explained as a Sparks Police truck drove by on the river path this morning. Him and Mel, his partner, were sitting on a park bench trying to think of their next move. Matt is not sure where they will end up but he wants to start the process ahead of the sweep now being talked about for tomorrow.
Matt is also frustrated at the posted signs and presence of the police. The sign posted on February 15th reads that all property will be considered abandoned as of 8 o’clock tomorrow morning.
“A couple months ago they said they were going to try and help us out,” Matt said as he placed tobacco into a rolling paper. He said there has been some help in the form of Nevada Health assisting people in the area with health insurance. But he said it has not been enough to help in any long term manner.
Posted on Monday the 15th, a new sign from the City of Sparks gave residents of Gateway Park 48 hours to clear out their belongings and move somewhere else.
On scene helping the folks get organized and ready to move was Kurt, who said he was with the Karma Box Project. “There are about 15 to 20 tents and about thirty people,” he explained, “and we have until tomorrow to move these people out of here.” However, he explained there were some issues. He does not like to see the unhoused get pushed around nor have their stuff be taken.
“Wells Street is being used as kind of a staging area,” he said referring to under the overpass along the river. He said officials are directing people first to a shelter then to the Wells Avenue overpass where they will not be harassed. He thinks the new Nevada Cares super shelter at the old Governor’s Bowl location should be ready within a few weeks, but it seems lots of work remains to get that operational.
Kurt said he believes these police actions are an opportunity for people experiencing homelessness to reconnect with family and receive goods they might not have otherwise received living in camps. Advocates for the unhoused say it can be counter-productive to uproot tent communities, only setting them back in their hopes of regaining stable, legal shelter.
“I’ve had too much stuff happen to her,” said Matt of his girlfriend, Mel, who is disabled. He chooses to avoid the shelter because he says the ones he has access to don’t allow couples and it would separate him from Mel. They have been together for over 15 years and when they were apart, things didn't go well for Mel. “I’ve gotta be around her,” he explained as he rolled his cigarette.
He cites safety issues during previous shelter experiences, but welcomes ideas for a possible legal safe camp, at Governor’s Bowl, or elsewhere.
The Gateway Park camp on the day before it might be swept and possessions taken out.
While talking with them, there were several Reno Police and Sparks Police present putting Matt on edge. He was uncomfortable and not sure why they were there but said he plans to get as much of their belongings together and be out by the morning.
“Some of us are here because it’s just unfortunate,” he said “we just ended up where we couldn’t afford the rent.”
He wants the community to know it is not easy living in a tent and not all of them are bad people.