The cozy upstairs cat-filled apartment of Judith Williams, one of 100 two-bedroom units at the Hawk View Apartments, has become a meeting place for stressed out and frustrated tenants, yet to be relocated ahead of Reno Housing Authority plans to demolish all this housing soon.
The plan is to have new and improved, safer and double the number of units within two years with a silent partner financing the onsite overhaul under RHA management.
In the meantime, current residents, including Williams (left in photo), a neighbor on disability benefits and two single moms, shared their yet to be completed relocation ordeals with Our Town Reno.
They all had an arduous journey to get into subsidized housing in the first place, and now feel they have to redo everything in even more difficult conditions, with even fewer options in the area. They all liked living here, citing the convenience of a bus stop within short walking distance, nearby schools, grocery options, restaurants, shaded areas, and a community atmosphere of helpful neighbors and occasional group barbecues.
On a hot middle of the month July morning, they trade tips, paperwork, calculations, news from recent meetings, text messages they are receiving and gossip, not knowing where they will be living in August.
The July 31st deadline to move has been set by RHA, which contracted the Boston-based HousingtoHome company to help relocate all residents.
These residents say they were told the process would be “breezy” and that they would be helped entirely with this big change but instead they are at wits’ end, fearing what comes next.
One single mom, previously homeless, who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals says she’s been living at Hawk View on Steelwood Lane for nearly three years. She finds it convenient with its nearby bus line and schools.
“I thought I had found my forever home,” she sighs. “This is the first apartment I ever had. There was a close community. We did things together, like paint a mural, and worked on a garden with kids.”
Now, instead, she says the RHA gave her a list from 2023 with places to call which would accept her voucher but despite countless calls, she says she hasn’t gotten anywhere yet. Like others, she alleges communications with the RHA and HousingtoHome have been unproductive.
“They’re sitting in their office drinking cappuccinos, and they’re always running out,” she said.
She has four kids, ranging in age from less than one to eight, and no car. “I cannot go looking all over the place with babies,” she says. “That was supposed to be their job. I'm trying my hardest to keep myself from having panic attacks because I'm not good with change.”
She went through rehab at Crossroads, then the family shelter at Record street, and the Nevada Cares Campus, before finally getting into this housing. She was about to get into a beautician school with an objective of owning her own hair salon, but the planned demolition of the Hawk View Apartments has thrown all that for a curve. One of her kids is supposed to start kindergarten in just a few weeks, but she has no idea where her family will be living then.
The onsite HousingtoHome office has changed locations several times, and on a Wednesday morning three women were answering phone calls in a space with blasting AC. They didn’t want to be interviewed but gave emails of their higher ups with emails ending with housingtohome. Those higher ups didn’t initially respond to our email for an interview, as did officials at the RHA.
After initial publication of this story, Hannagh Jacobsen the Chief Executive Officer and Cofounder of HousingToHome wrote back: “HousingToHome is pleased to be working with the Reno Housing Authority to ensure that residents of Hawk View Apartments go through a seamless relocation process while the Authority undertakes a much-needed redevelopment of the property. We know that resident relocation is stressful, and we are ensuring that the Authority is in compliance with the process laid out by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and providing support and services to the residents during this process. We are providing additional support to residents experiencing challenges and appreciate everyone's collaboration.”
One HousingtoHome employee printed out a spreadsheet which had in highlighted yellow a figure in the Remaining to Place category as 32, which they amended by writing with a pen “19 residents remaining.”
Two were in the category of pending eviction, with a 30 Day notice to vacate on an apartment right by Judith’s, indicating over $1200 was due.
Outside, another woman, Valerie, 60, who has been living here 17 years, currently paying $200 a month, is having a rough morning. Her motorized wheelchair just stopped working and she says her application for another unit at the Austin Crest Apartments on Grand Summit Drive where she would have to pay $280 is being stalled due to confusion over her daughter’s status.
“We filled out the applications and everything looked good until they said something about her because they wrote she was disabled, but she's not. She's just under a doctor's care for her feet,” she explains.
Two of the apartments the relocation company previously showed her, she says, didn’t have the necessary wheelchair access, so those were a no go. Another fell through because she has a pending credit issue with Walmart.
“They know that, you know, a lot of people here don’t have good credit. And that's why we live in [subsidized] housing, because we're poor. It's just one thing after another,” she said.
The reason given for the demolition is that current units were built dangerously on unstable soil, and Valerie agrees her apartment was passing its expiration date, with a big dip in the middle of her unit’s hallway.
She first arrived here after fleeing a bad relationship and staying first at a domestic violence shelter, when she also got onto disability payments.
“I don't think they thought about it enough,” she says about RHA and the relocation. “If I can’t find anything myself, I don't want to be kicked out. I'll be homeless, straight and simple, because I can't afford anything else,” she concluded.
Back upstairs in Judith’s apartment, Trista, a single mom of two has brought her case folder with her, confused at to what she might have to pay at an apartment close by she’d like to move to, Springview by Vintage on Clear Acre Lane.
Rather than the all-paid expenses relocation being offered to residents, she is choosing the $1300 payment which according to paperwork handed out was also an option.
Trista who has been living here for a half dozen years, now paying just $27 a month, is also frustrated with the process, and stressed with the looming deadline.
“We've had to go look for the apartments ourselves. We've had to see who can accept our housing vouchers, besides the list they gave us. And they're supposed to give me updates on like how things are going. And when they see me, they're like, ‘do you have any updates for us?’ I'm like, ‘You're supposed to tell me what's going on,’” she says.
She’s been looking for new work for the past few months, and is supposed to soon start part time employment with a cleaning service, but is worried as to how that might affect how much she’ll need to pay at a new location, which figures in income.
Because she has no credit at all, she says she also needs cosigners, hoping it will be her ex and her brother combined, but isn’t sure if that will work out.
Trista, who went through the local Step2 recovery program, says she has been trying to turn her life around, and recently bought a used car (in blue in photo above), giving her more mobility to be able to pursue work.
She says the RHA opening up waiting lists recently also put a crunch on heightened competition for the few available places.
“Like help us,” she pleaded. “They were supposed to talk to us, figure out what kind of apartments we want and what area and go over it with us and then help us apply. And they didn't do any of that.”
There’s also confusion as to how long the rebuild of the new apartments at this location will take exactly, and whether previous residents will be first in line to get back in, with the complication of having new leases elsewhere.
Judith, who has been living here since 2016, says she’s become an advocate for those struggling to find new adequate housing, while she faces the same predicament. Her mom recently rejoined her in Reno, adding another complexity to finding a replacement unit.
“My panic is going through the roof,” she said of her current state of mind. “I’ve actually lost a chunk of my hair. I'm freaked out.”
The one apartment she was suggested to look at turned into a waste of time, she says, as a manager never showed up to their appointment, leaving her baking in the sun.
“I’m a ginger. I hate sitting in that heat,” she says of why she stopped waiting after half an hour, even though it was the only option the relocation company had suggested.
“This is scandalous to say the least,” she wrote Our Town Reno before meeting up in person this week, as to the ordeal of trying to remain in subsidized housing to her liking.
She shows a letter stating she’s been an excellent tenant. She’s also been a $75 a month employee here, helping clean up the community room and becoming an integral part of the friendly neighborly vibe.
All that is ending now, and Judith is uncertain as to what will happen to herself, her family, and friends, but she says will keep fighting for herself and all of them, whatever happens over the next few weeks.