While the future of the former Record Street shelter known as the CAC (Community Assistance Center) is up in the air, members of the community are also wondering what might happen to the non-profit Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission next door, increasingly surrounded by new bars, businesses and apartment projects on 4th street.
Advocates have been urging City Council for several years now to save the Record street shelter compound and still use it for emergency social services. With the establishment of the Cares Campus post pandemic, the County took over local services for the unhoused.
The Reno City Council decided this past week to appraise the shelter compound which has been neglected in recent years and put it up for an RFP, instead of going straight to negotiations with Bash Capital as initially recommended by city staff.
In one of their letters, the Bash developers had written they “will work in tandem with local social services to provide support for homeless residents, and continue to look for [sic] new location for Gospel Mission."
After we reached out by email expressing concern over their own future fate, we received this statement from Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission Executive Director Luis Santoni.
"Any development agreements regarding the CAC is between the City of Reno and Bash Capital. The Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission is committed to being a good neighbor to the future renovation to the CAC property. The Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission is also dedicated to continuing the best possible services to the hungry, homeless, abused and addicted in our beloved community,” he wrote.
The Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission website asks for the community’s support to provide “nutritious meals, safe shelter, clothing and addiction recovery services.”
“We rely solely on the generous support of private donors like you, as we do not receive any federal, state or other government assistance,” it indicates.
Our Town Reno reporting, April 2024
