In stirring testimony before the Reno City Council on Wednesday, as alerted to us by a member of the Family Soup Mutual Aid group, Alex Varner warned against conditions at the Cares Campus.
After suffering from a stroke and going to different hospitals, all the while his rent was being raised, the 60-year-old says he recently ended up on the streets for the first time in his life.
“I worked hard all my life. I was scared like you would not believe because of what I've seen out on these streets,” he said. He tried to get his eviction delayed or to get help from other resources to avoid homelessness, but says he was unable to get into housing at that point, while struggling with his health.
After being released from Renown, he says he was sent to the Cares Campus, which he called “nothing but bad news.”
He says there’s violence and people getting hurt inside, but that staff doesn’t keep up.
He says breakfast is a donut and “lunch is no better, dinner is no better.”
During his testimony, Varner called for an investigation. “Somebody needs to go over there,” he pleaded.
Varner explained he tries to survive on his Social Security disability payments, but said that whatever happens there’s no way he would go back to the Cares Campus.
New City of Reno ordinances prohibit sleeping and even sitting in public places, effectively criminalizing those with no stable shelter and no desire to stay at the Cares Campus.
After his comment, council woman Naomi Duerr asked that Varner get in contact with a liaison official. Our Town Reno has gotten a highly staged visit to the Cares Campus once, and another time had a student reporter kicked out. We’ve asked to enter during normal, non staged times, but have never been given that access.
Many people we've interviewed in recent years, especially women, have complained of feeling unsafe at the campus as well, while others have said it feels more like a cramped warehouse or a prison, than a place for getting back on track.
