Contracts and Food at the NCC Compound Under Review
The contract for Volunteers of America as operators of the COVID emergency funded 600 bed big tent Nevada Cares Campus was recently renewed until the end of June 2022, and it remains unclear to us until when the Karma Box Project contract will go to run the adjoining safe camp.
“We couldn't just go out to bid with a new provider because that just would've been too much for us to do, so we will be going out to bid, next year on a new contract with VOA,” Hill said in our interview. “Additionally, we're using our American Recovery Act funds, those COVID funds that Congress gave us to give additional incentives to work for VOA, bonuses, pay increases because, the staffing isn't where it needs to be. And the city of Reno is also partnering with us on that.”
As far as Karma Box, “that's also going to be up in, I think, less than a year for their contract,” Hill said. “It was a pilot project. We started, and now there will be an opportunity for the community to apply for that, if that's something that they're interested in, in the coming months.” The last document Our Town Reno was able to locate was a May 2021 three-month contract with monthly renewals. There have been concerns from advocates about how both organizations are handling their contracts.
We did find out Hill shares some of the concerns of advocates from food, to inadequate facilities, and insufficient staffing at the campus, and that new decisions could be made soon on meals.
“I know restroom facilities and the laundry facilities are huge issues, that we've had with implementation,” Hill said. “So we're scrapping [with] what we’ve got and we're moving with indoor restrooms, connected facilities, because right now they're outside. And then we're working on a new laundry facility that meets the need for as many people are on the campus.” She said the new bathrooms will take a while though before even being contracted for and then installed.
Hill said she’s also aware of concerns about the quality of the food being served by The Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission and Catholic Charities, with possible changes looming.
“We’re actually going out to contract with food services, Washoe county will be,” Hill promised. “We are well aware of the concerns with that, and we want food to be also served in a way that isn't wasteful. Right now, you're just getting a tray and you may not like everything on your tray. And you may have diet restrictions or you may have religious exemptions. So we need to make sure that we're working on that as well. So that's something that we'll be going out to bid on. “
Better Staffing Needed at Cares Campus
A main priority, Hill reiterated several times during the interview, is getting more and better staff for VOA. “We are well aware that the staffing is not where it needs to be,” she repeated several times. “That's why we're creating this bonus pay and incentives. And it's tough in America right now for any organization that's hiring. It's just a competitive job market. And, we have to rise to that occasion and working with this population is a special person.”
She said part of the challenge is getting staff who are not just trying to keep the campus afloat, but actually helping people on their journey to get back into housing. “We don't have enough staffing to do that currently, but we are hiring up, to have those caseworkers where they can meet people where they're at again, look at, you know, this is your case history, this is your track record,” Hill said. “Some of these people that are living in the campus have jobs and let me find the right fit for you because it's not going to be the right fit for every other person. So it may be transitional housing. It may be straight into Section 8 housing and maybe into a lower income apartment house.”
More Washoe County staff has also been hired to work solely on homeless services. “We’ve hired 10, this fiscal year, before we had two devoted homeless services folks in the region. And so we're looking at a lot more hands-on full-time folks,” Hill said.
New spending she says will also go toward a day center, expanding the safe camp, support services, a building for counseling, housing and job placement, as well as transitional housing dorm units on site, and eventually also adding the inside bathrooms and a better laundry facility.
“We’re also looking at creating some privacy for folks who are in that campus right now. It's pretty packed in there,” Hill acknowledged. “What we'll be doing is creating incentives for folks who are looking for housing to go to that next step. So working with each person where they're at, they're all on a different part of their continuum, the continuum of care on their housing journey and finding where they best fit within the region's services.”
What about Winter Plans and Ongoing Sweeps?
Advocates also complain it seems plans are made at the last second to help the unhoused, with proper cooling, warming or get out of the smoke centers beyond the Cares Campus, still not available. Hill said plans are underway for the upcoming winter but that she wasn’t ready at the time of our interview to reveal them all to Our Town Reno.
She did speak of the need for new tents at the safe camp. “The tents are not good for the winter. So we've got a tent plan for how we're going to keep people warm during the winter. I'm not ready to release that quite yet today.” She made guarantees though. “People are not going to be suffering on our government facility, but, that will be something that I'll be releasing next week, but, we'll be doing that. And then we've got some plans in the works for warming facilities as well on site.”
Court rulings forbid any sweeps when no shelter space is available but Hill said cots have been available even when the campus is at full capacity. Unlike advocates, the language she used seemed not to oppose ongoing sweeps.
“It's not full because there's I think a hundred cots that you can still fit into the cafeteria areas,” Hill told us. “We don't really do sweeps at the county [level], that's an enforcement situation on the city of Reno and the city of Sparks, just because they're in the midst of all that. I think it's really important that we make contact with people who are living on the river and who are living on the street, whether it's a police officer or whether it's someone from Karma Box that is getting their name, and seeing how we can help them. That's really important and part of this process of ensuring that we get people the help that they need and get them into housing.”
What About Relations with Volunteer Groups?
Several people staying at the campus have told Our Town Reno their happiest moments are when volunteers show up with healthy community meals, needed supplies, guidance and friendly conversation just outside the compound’s gates. But the volunteers say they feel tension coming from security guards and other staff.
“I think that that is really important that we work with all of these community groups and make sure that they're doing what we need, we're doing what they need and having that dialogue,” Hill said of establishing a framework going forward. “And so that's what I'm hoping to see CHAB will help facilitate because bringing these folks to the table and ensuring that we're all on the same page, because I think the one issue is, bringing food on site on the campus that creates some problems because we already have a contract, which we're paying for food, in the region. So figuring out how to find that balance between, you know, how can we give people the nutrition that they need and then also, how can we ensure that this group feels part of the process. I think that that's a balance we're going to have to strike, and hopefully everyone's excited to work with us because we're excited to work with them on that,” she said.
Hill also defended new signs outside the Cares Campus, which are adding checks to the entrance. “It's very important that we know who's coming in. .. If we don't know who you are, we cannot help you. Additionally, sadly, there's not a lot of people, but there are some people who go into the campus who are there to disrupt, who are there to create a problem.”
Struggling to Find Housing for Those Ready for It
One main frustration for Hill has been seeing people at the campus qualifying for housing and ready to move but with no housing available.
She said she knows of 15 people in the safe camp ready to be housed, but there’s no housing for them right now. “They have their IDs, they're in the system because we have a housing specialist who's been working through the safe camp because the county has been operating that since day one in June, to move out into the housing,” Hill said. “[But] they're on waiting lists, [so] we need to grow the capacity… And that takes time because emergency housing is not a full-time housing solution and it's unacceptable for people to live there for years. That's not going to happen at the county level. We are going to get people housed, in an appropriate place because we are pushing for that housing first. So you don't have to earn housing. We at Washoe county, we're going to ensure that you actually get in the right place, get rehabilitated and go on your journey.”
Hill said the county will also work to help create this much needed lower income housing, including looking into inclusionary zoning. “How do we get that very low AMI [Area Median Income] or wraparound service housing, and then how [do] we work with the cities to make sure that they're also doing more affordable housing and that missing middle housing… How do we make sure that our communities have … that anyone who wants to work in Reno can live in Reno and same thing with Sparks or Washoe County?”
For others, she said there needs to be more supervision. “There are some people that also we know, cannot live on their own… Some of these people that have been at the [former] Record Street campus and now moved to the Cares Campus. There [are people] who aren't mentally ill enough to be in the state's care, but are in a situation where they cannot live by themselves and need extra support. And so that's where permanent supportive housing comes in. And that's something we're working with the Reno Housing Authority to ensure that we get folks housed as well. “
Regionalizing Efforts and Following the Built for Zero Model
Overall, Hill sees the regionalization of homeless services, and following the model of the Built for Zero program, as steps in the right direction to helping the unhoused.
“When I was compelled to run for office, one of the things that I saw with our homeless services is that everyone was doing their own thing,” she said. “And I think, well intentioned certainly, but the city of Reno had the men's shelter, the CAC, Washoe County had the women's shelter, Our Place on Galletti, and the city of Sparks was doing their HOPES team, which was helping with the softer, kinder approach to enforcement on the streets, and in the parks. And then we have, 30 [or so] nonprofit organizations that are focused in the homeless realm, but everyone was again doing their own thing. And so one of the best practices of the Built for Zero program, which the county has signed on to as well as many other communities throughout the country, is that they give you tools to regionalize your homeless services,” Hill said.
The first step in Built for Zero, which Hill pointed out received a $100 million MacArthur foundation award, is to “build an integrated, command center team that can take responsibility for getting to zero,” as in zero people unhoused.
“You can't fix the problem unless one person's in charge and kind of operating all the amazing arms of investment and different organizations to ensure that you're doing the right thing,” Hill said in our interview. “So that's one of the main reasons that it's really exciting to have the county in charge, because again, it was fragmented before. So now the county has the continuum of care. And what that means is that we will now receive funding through HUD that we can apply for, for homeless services directly. The city of Reno has been applying for that funding, but because we're a higher population in Washoe county, we can receive higher amounts of funding and working regionally with the city of Reno and the city of Sparks, as well as with our nonprofit partners. We can also look to really make those dollars stretch.”
There have been social media posts about the food being served at the Campus, which Hill said is closely being looked into as part on oncoming changes.
More Money Coming In and the By-Name List
Hill says the new leadership structure and newly arrived $38 million of American Recovery funds will allow to make the improvements she talked about at the Cares Campus. More money will come from Reno, Sparks and local fundraising efforts. “Future iterations of this will have a foundation element and a nonprofit element where people can give cash,” she said. “And then there will be, you know, opportunities for the county to invest as well. This is a regional program. Homelessness doesn't know jurisdictional lines, whether you're in unincorporated Washoe county or the city of Sparks or the city of Reno.”
The second component of the Built for Zero model is the By-Name List to “Build a comprehensive real-time, by-name list of all single adults experiencing homelessness in our community.”
“It’s also working with our nonprofit partners to ensure that they use the same system,” Hill said. “We don't currently have a database where everyone is using the same system. So that's our next step is getting everyone incentivized to get on that same system.”
At this point, the system isn’t even being followed at the Cares Campus she said. “We [want to] have a dashboard on our website, that you hold us accountable to. The old way of doing things was we had so many contacts this month with someone who is seeking housing, that's not cutting it. So to get down to that zero, you have to have a list that shows that people have moved on. We don't have those statistics. I'm assuming they're not great to be perfectly honest. We haven't had the staffing moving from Record Street, expanding into this giant campus, to get people housed, but that's why the county's taking over and why our partners have devoted these resources to additional operating support in this giant capital campaign, the biggest investment we've ever seen in this region for homelessness since I've been around to ensure that we're meeting the need, and meeting people where they're at, so we can get the results that the community expects for the money.”
Hill remains hopeful despite all the current challenges. “I will tell you, this is one of the best times in my career working for government. I worked in government as a staff member in policy and in planning for over a decade that I've seen a lot of federal funding. That's huge. The fact that we're able to make these investments and you have these partnerships that I don't know if that would have happened without the federal funding. That's another silver lining of the COVID situation. Although, because of COVID, we do have additional homelessness because it's people who have lost their jobs and cannot live anywhere in our community.”
Working together will be crucial to the end goal of getting people now living on the streets permanent housing. “How do we support each other in all of these efforts and not pointing fingers and actually let's just do it, let's get the job done,” Hill concluded.