Lacking Office Space and Rehousing Options
Elizabeth Pope, the case manager at the Washoe County pilot safe camp, has made recent appearances at the Community Homelessness Advisory Board, pleading for more housing in the community as well as more support from volunteers. On social media and at City Council meetings, advocates and others have been critical of the Karma Box Project, which has had the contract to operate the safe camp since its inception last year.
“You have a really deeply caring group of people who are sometimes faced with situations that most people, you know, will never face in their life,” she told Our Town Reno during a recent interview from her car which is also her office. “And they show up every day to do their best. And so, no matter what our grievances are with the system, I really do feel like the staff deserve a lot of support and a lot of kudos, which oftentimes they sometimes get a lot of criticism,” she said.
Working from her car is also a current challenge, which should change once the safe camp is moved to its future permanent location inside the Governor’s Bowl, below from where it started. Having no office complicates her tasks and also makes it difficult to get private meetings with camp residents she is trying to get into housing.
“I think office space is a challenge,” she said. “Coordinating care takes a lot of infrastructure, it takes access to a scanner, a printer, fax machine , with all those different things, when there are documents that need to be sent, it's important to have a way to do that,” she explained.
Other challenges included the initial tents set up last year at the camp, which proved to be leaky under stormy conditions. ModPods were ordered but those have yet to be set up, Pope said.
Long waiting times to get people from the camp into housing has also been an issue. “As we know, there's a huge shortage of housing in Washoe County right now. And so that process does take time,” she said.
“Ideally, we would be able to find everybody housing within the first month. The reality of the situation is there isn't a housing resource that we can usually make happen within that amount of time,” she admitted. She says she wouldn’t be surprised if eventually the average length of stay at the safe camp will be half a year. “Getting someone into housing is not an easy process right now. It's just taking time.”
Shelter space has also been limited despite the opening of the Cares Campus, with beds often filled, and demand for the safe camp higher than its actual 45 spots.
The safe camp relies on outreach workers dispersed throughout Washoe County to identify individuals who might be interested in trying the safe camp on their rehousing journey.
“We identify those unsheltered individuals who we can bring into the safe camp and who are ready and willing when we have an opening come up,” Pope said. “And then once someone is interested in coming into the safe camp and we have a space available, we bring them in and the Karma Box Project staff work with them to help set them up with their space, with their tent.”
File photo from 2021 of the Governor’s Bowl location where the safe camp will eventually be moved.
A Vulnerability Index
As part of her role, Pope, who has been working in this field for over two decades, helps with the Northern Nevada Homeless Management Information System, trying to get data on the unhoused in our community.
At intake, she evaluates what is called a person’s “current vulnerability index.” That helps identify the type of housing programs people would be most suited for based on their score. “I usually start there,” she said. “I start with that assessment, and then we talk through what their ideal housing situation would look like, and connecting them with whatever resources might be available to help them get there.”
Pope finds out if a person being helped needs to get an ID and Social Security card. “A lot of times folks don't have … the things that are needed to help facilitate their process into housing once there's a housing resource available. So we help connect them with those things,” she said.
Most important as part of her duties is coming up with a durable and sustainable housing plan. “Oftentimes there are things that will help someone maintain housing as well, such as identifying medical issues that might exist, mental health issues that may exist, any sort of substance abuse issues,” she said.
Pope also connects people with health and recovery resources. “I have become familiar with the different resources available through the different insurance companies and trying to make sure that if someone needs a doctor's appointment, if they are ready to engage in substance abuse treatment, if that's an issue for them, we will do that,” she said. “I’ve helped people connect with medically assisted treatment with methadone. We’ve helped people get into transitional housing programs.”
Another photo we took on our only allowed visit in the early months of the camp’s existence last year.
A Housing First Approach
She says her approach is housing first though. “You don't have to participate in any treatment. You don't have to be clean and sober. You can move into housing just as you are at that time,” she said. “I do my best to meet that person where they are … This person is on their own journey, they are in charge of their life. I see my role as helping connect them with the resources and equip them with the skills that they need to help move them in the direction that they want for their life. We do ask that everybody that comes into the safe camp works on a housing plan. So ultimately we're working in the direction toward housing.”
She is hopeful there is movement in the community currently to expand on lower incoming housing opportunities as part of the Cares Campus and Built for Zero philosophies. She says there’s also efforts to bring staffing ratios up, so there can be more case managers like herself.
Pope would also like to see more help from developers and landlords often wary of housing vouchers. “If we could get more landlords on board, more housing options available, new apartment developments to allocate certain apartments for affordable housing … I think that would be incredible.”
For some of the camp residents who got into housing, she did a few follow up calls to see how they were doing. Our Town Reno hasn’t been able to get precise numbers on how many former camp residents are still housed.
As part of the interview, Pope reiterated her plea for more support from advocates who have criticized different failings at the Cares Campus, from the tent conditions, to the food being served there, to how residents and those trying to help them on a volunteer basis are treated.
“It’s a very stressful job,” Pope said. “So, making sure that the staff who are doing that work, feel supported and cared for by the community is I think a really important thing.” She said if staff is not doing their job to an adequate level, proper grievance procedures should be followed.