It's nine o'clock.

We're going to start our meeting.

I could uh start with a pledge of allegiance.

Could I have one of our hopes members uh in the back row, one of the deputies back there?

Please lead us in that pledge of allegiance.

Thank you.

And to the republic or registrations, she undergo individual students.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Could I have uh roll call, please?

Washa County Chair Clerk?

Present.

Washoe County.

Vice Chair Hill.

Here.

Mayor Ed Lawson.

Councilmember Taylor Reno.

Uh Councilmember Reno Rodriguez.

Oh, excuse me, Councilmember Sparks Rodriguez.

Present.

Councilmember Reno Anderson.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

And our DA today is Herb Keplin.

Very well.

We'll move into public comment.

First step.

First step, we have Kimberly Coshman.

She has documents for the record.

Thank you.

And she has documents for the record.

My name is Kimberly Coshman.

Good morning.

I'm here today to raise a serious public safety concern regarding Washhoe County and the City of Reno's continued contracting with Grant Denton and the Karma Box Project.

At the May 28, 2024 commission meeting, I submitted a written statement containing 17 separate points.

I want to focus on one of them because it goes directly to the issue of oversight and public safety.

In the summer of 2023, during a community cleanup organized by Denton, I witnessed him sign off on court-ordered community service hours for an individual convicted of domestic violence.

I was told it was forward to an investigator, but deemed outside the scope of the investigation that continued to narrow.

Today I brought a new document, a second person with a log containing 60 hours signed off by Matthew Grimsley and Grant Denton of the Karma Box Project.

Not one of those hours was completed.

How many more cases of this are there?

I'm asking this board to investigate whether other domestic violence offenders or violent criminals had court-ordered community service hours improperly approved through Denton or the Karma Box Project as they employ individuals in county and city-related contracted roles.

Former Karma Box employees have also claimed that future employees are often instructed by Denton to just leave the box that is checked as permission for a background check blank.

Are there applications that were accepted by the county or city with blank boxes?

At this moment, three of Denton's second chance employees summoned supervisor roles are incarcerated on heinous crimes.

Victimizing several members of our community.

Will they again have second chances once they're released?

You have only heard from the victims brave enough to speak publicly.

People experiencing homelessness or addiction understand their credibility will be questioned as they could lose current resources they depend on.

They have watched what happens when somebody does come forward and then is disparaged and labor a hater on Denton's various Facebook pages.

This is not about haters, it's not about killing second chances.

This is about maintaining second chances for those who truly deserve them with proper oversight.

These are not isolated mistakes, they're systematic failures of oversight.

By continuing to contract Denton and granting him authority over vulnerable populations, the county and city have exposed hundreds, possibly thousands of people to preventable harm, despite numerous warnings from their constituents.

I'm asking this board to suspend relevant contracts immediately pending review.

Please conduct a full independent audit of background check overrides, community service verification practices, and mandated reporter compliance connected to the Carmel Box project.

I'm grateful for the decision to contract Rise of the Care's campus.

However, leaving Denton in place until July after the damage he's done to this community in three months is terrifying.

Next up is Emma Dhodi, followed by Paul White.

Good morning.

I usually read off of prepared remarks, but today I'm just gonna wing it.

Um I do a lot of volunteering with the homeless in our community.

And um last night I visited um, I'm gonna keep details light for the sake of protecting privacy.

I visited a client of a place I volunteer at at the hospital last night.

Um I'm thinking with uh this board meeting about just how little there has been for her and how little there's gonna be for her when she gets out.

Because uh I was at the December 2nd, 2025 meeting when it was proposed that this board be disbanded because the CARES campus exists.

I know the CARES campus is always full.

We all know the CARES campus is always full, in spite of all those reports of abuse.

On January 22nd, 2025, someone said to the Reno City Council that someone at CARES campus woke up to someone urinating on their face.

Um, and despite that, it's you know, the shelter census dashboard says it's full all the time.

And you know, this client, it's you know, they're not gonna have the resources to you know help someone like this with like the new issues she's gonna have after this, especially.

Um, another agreement, another argument I've seen against this board is that it has no binding authority.

I agree it should have binding authority.

Um, I believe that's something that people who are on the county commission and on various city councils could arrange.

You know, on a day like this, I'm reminded of you know, of just how little I can do for the people I try to serve.

I'm just some 22-year-old undergrad.

I can volunteer and I can go give public comment and demand my elected officials step up.

And so um, as anyone on this board worked one-on-one with this population.

Like if you worked with the homeless, I highly suggest kick this agenda item down the road until everyone voting on it has gone into these places that I have gone into and done the volunteer interior work.

You ran for these positions.

You put time, money, and effort into getting these positions in elected office.

Please take the responsibility that you chose seriously.

Thank you.

Next up, Paul White, followed by Pam Dar.

I didn't start yet.

My name's Paul White.

My organization is Education Crusade.

Unless your experience with homeless programs that work predates 1973.

And I have more experience in how to do them and what doesn't work than anybody in the room.

Washoe County's out of control homeless problem is solely due to a lack of humility.

For years, our two city councils, the county commissioners, and the board have lacked the willingness to humbly admit that the homeless program that was conceived, approved, and the ultimate responsibility for has been a complete failure.

Tens of millions of dollars have been wastefully spent.

Urgently needed social services have been drained.

Hundreds of vagrant by choice lives have been wasted.

Thousands of homeless individuals have turned Reno's downtown into uh abandoned, embarrassing slum.

VOA, Karma Box, and every other subcontractor involved in the homeless program have given abundant proof for years of their total inability to accomplish anything but to enrich themselves.

Nothing can change until the city council's commissioners and this board have the humility to acknowledge the complete failure of the current homeless programs and accept the need to cancel all the services of all the organizations currently involved in care campus activities.

Once this public acknowledgement of complete failure has been made and acted on, your groups will be in a position to open-mindedly listen to a presentation that Education Crusade has been requesting for several years.

It's a presentation that would explain the only way that any successful homeless program in the nation has ever operated.

The presentation would explain how such a proven homeless program could immediately begin to be implemented in our community.

I hope to hear from you.

Next up, Pam Darr, followed by Drew Rebar.

Good morning, CHAP board.

Sorry, it's early.

Thank you for being here and taking time out of your day.

Um I'm better talking off the cuff, but I want to make sure I hit these three marks.

Well, probably four.

This is my name is Pam Darr.

And I'm not that tall.

The three things that I want to cover is transparencies of these nonprofits.

Nationally, we're hearing all kinds of stories about money not being accounted for.

And I think most of the people in this room want to make sure every penny that's taken of our tax dollars is spent wisely, and we help people that need help.

Unfortunately, I think some people might be helping themselves and not getting it to the people that really need it.

The other concern I have is goals with these nonprofits and these committees and your respectful boards where you can take action.

What is the goal?

Is the goal to make it a larger industry?

Because that's what I'm seeing.

I'm seeing the homeless grow.

And it's not acceptable.

We I mean, something has to happen.

If we were just helping the people in Washoe County, we'd probably have this under control.

I really do.

I think we would, but if they're coming from other counties, other states, and probably other countries.

Is there a game plan to deal with the people that come from outside of Washo, and we, the taxpayers, take on that expenditure?

We have to spend the money to help them.

And in some ways I don't mind, but we can't do it.

We can't do it for everybody.

So what guardrails?

That would be a nice scene to put on a commissioner agenda, a city agenda, and have a discussion.

So basically, I don't want to see this board go away.

As you can see, people are here.

It's affecting their lives.

I had a friend in the middle of the night when she was at a gym, get really scared from somebody who was a criminal on the streets that tried to get into that gym where she was working out.

She had to call the cops.

He got arrested, he got arrested, went right to Jelly was a criminal.

So these things are important to your constituents.

But we really need to see more transparency.

We need to set goals because I had to do that in my job.

You know, I had to set goals, and I had I had incentives to do a good job.

So we need to, you know, where's the incentive to fix this?

I don't see it.

I think there's more an incentive to make it grow, more jobs, more government, but that's more of our tax dollars.

And I don't see my money being well spent, which is not a new.

It's a hard thing to tackle, but we have to tackle it.

Because I think people's lives depend on it.

And thank you for being here.

And have a good day.

Sorry.

Next up, Drew Rebar, followed by Melanie Denny.

Hi there, my name is Drew Rebar.

I'm a candidate for Nevada Assembly District 40.

That covers Washoe County, Carson City, and Story County.

So I look at this homeless problem that's gone on in Reno for years and years and years now.

So over the last what, six decades, I've spent on 4th Street somewhere, whether West 4th Street, East Fourth Street, or right downtown, right across from uh growing up, right across from the Circus Circus, there's now a parking garage there.

My uncle used to own all that property, but I remember being a little kid on Fourth Street showing, throwing candy during parades and things like that.

Fourth Street hasn't always been what it is now.

And what I see is a business guy.

See, I'm a reluctant political candidate.

I just wanted to run my business until the government bothered me.

But what I see is I see all of this waste and abuse.

Denton Karma box is just a symptom of the bigger problem.

Running my business and trying to understand what's been going on with the government.

I tried to get a lot of public records.

Some of those public records are about CARES campus.

And you know what I can't figure out is where all the money went.

Where did all the money go?

I think that with what the county commission has done in diverting all of this money to these nonprofits that are totally unaccountable to the public.

They just take the money and then they get to spend it.

And you go try to find out where the money went.

Oh, we don't need to tell you that.

We're a nonprofit.

It's all private.

And they try to hide hide hide the money from the public that's the public's money.

And then this homeless industrial complex that pays these people very, very well six figures a year to try to help people.

These people seem to get richer and richer and richer.

And we have more and more people on our streets suffering.

So what are the people that we vote for and elect and put in these positions?

What have they done to solve these problems other than throwing money at these nonprofits?

You know, Nevada, we used to have some of the best roads in the nation.

You'd cross over, driving out of California, come into Nevada, and you'd see a definite distinction between the roads.

That changed about 10 years ago.

That's about when we started all this homeless nonsense, giving all this money to these people.

So we've diverted funds from our infrastructure, we've diverted funds from all of this stuff to give all these funds to these nonprofits to enrich all these people.

And we've just made the problem that we're trying to supposedly solve worse.

So what I propose is if I do get elected, I'd like to put in a BDR that would require all any government money that's handed out to any nonprofits or any organization.

They're all subject to public records requests, and we can track where our money is going and we can hold people accountable.

We need some mechanisms to keep accountability as we're trying to help the people that are struggling.

Next up, Melanie Denny, followed by Virginia Wiggins, Hello.

My name is Melanie Denny, Reno Native.

I'm here today to ask you to do something different.

Include a broader group of constituents and put together a long-term plan that addresses the root causes of housing affordability.

Mistakes have been made, but we need to move forward, quit wasting time, and get to work.

In my mind, solving homelessness is simple.

Provide people with a place to live.

In these communities, individuals, companies, and units of government own high quality housing that is well maintained and affordable.

A robust, reliable transportation infrastructure ensures that people don't have to rely on driving a car to get to work.

Universal health care and a broad safety net ensure people don't become homeless because of illness or a disability.

We can improve the quality of life for everyone in our community.

Each jurisdiction has funding and powerful incentives and disincentives in your control that you can leverage to solve this problem.

We could use land banks, zoning changes, density bonuses, impact fee reductions, property tax waivers.

You could charge owners of vacant buildings, escalating fees to encourage them to reuse, redevelop, or sell their property.

Economic development agencies can recruit employers who provide a living wage, match employ employee retirement contributions, and pay 100% of health care costs.

These are just a few things available to you.

We need both public and private housing stock that is available and affordable.

We need public transportation that is reliable and available where people live.

In closing, a little historical reminder that hopefully serves as encouragement to keep meeting and develop a comprehensive plan.

Government created a middle class in the United States between 1940 and 1960.

This happened because there was a plan, commitment, and support from unions in the community.

We can do this again, and we can do this here.

Thank you.

Next up, Virginia Wiggins, followed by David Nyberg.

Hi, my name is Virginia Wiggins, and I want to apologize the last time I was in front of you.

I've been kicked out of our place unlawfully.

And I was traumatized at that moment.

I hadn't showered in days.

Again, not insane and not a drug addict.

What they've done to me, I have proof, physical proof of class D felonies that the VOA has committed against me.

I have legal aid I'm working with.

But again, this is not just about me.

There are other people like me who's a cancer survivor as a child.

Because again, I was a child.

SSI is not enough to keep a roof over my head.

I did have housing at one point that I gave up to go take care of my father when he passed.

This is where I am now.

But what is going on?

I'm asking for a full audit of the VOA and the breach of contract with you guys because I have pulled up the contract and I know where they are in breach.

And I want to see where you guys come up with.

You guys are put in place to actually look over to make sure that there's transparency, that they are not violating the rights of human beings in that place and doing inhumane acts that they are doing, unlawful acts that they are doing, and they are keeping people on the streets.

Homelessness ads become a business.

They keep you there for the money that they get, and then they'll kick you out for two days so you come back and you have more time so they can keep collecting on you.

Tell me if I take an ambulance from down around the way a mile down the road, they can take my bed.

That if I need an ambulance help, I need to call an ambulance from there.

I have health issues.

I can't tell you when something may happen when I make need the ambulance.

They are doing things that are wrong, and you guys are supposed to be oversighting them.

And I know that it's a voting year this year, and I'm going all the way to the top.

I don't care.

It's not just about me anymore.

I'm tired of seeing what I see and having people victim victimize me.

When I asked you guys for comments or the uh paperwork of everything that's been written on me, little show up that they never uh put the things that I put, like people having body life that don't even know they have it because they are so not with it cognitively.

And that wasn't put in there, my whistleblowing things, nothing was put down on there, and there were lies, literal lies that I have physical proof and audio proof that they lied on federal paperwork about me, and it is defamation and what everything they've done, class D forgery, which makes anything that they build on me unlawful operations.

I have ran shelters in the 1990s.

Thank you for your time.

Next up, David Nyberg, followed by Trisha Creaton.

Good morning.

I'm David Nyberg.

I'm associate pastor at St.

Paul's United Methodist Church here in Reno.

Uh, first off, I want to say that uh I recognize and I appreciate that the Reno, the Spark City Councils, and the County Commission has taken this matter seriously and dealt with it.

Um, you know, we can all, most of us can remember back when Record Street was new, and that was a big improvement.

The CARES campus has been a big improvement.

And nobody is under the opinion that everything is perfect.

Uh, there are still some holes in things, and I'm here today just hoping uh to get one of those holes filled.

I'm here advocating uh for what we're seeing lately at St.

Paul's.

Uh, an example of this is a man named Robert, uh, who is 63 years old, and uh he first came into our program on February 6th.

He qualifies for Social Security.

We've not been able to get him in there yet to get that.

You know, one delay after another.

He is confined to a wheelchair, he has congestive heart failure that's really very serious.

Um, and I'm afraid that if we don't get him help soon, he will be unable to do his ADLs.

Um, we received a private grant in February that's been able to help us some.

But we don't have the money to do this.

I know that there's probably help out there that could help this situation.

We have people that fall through the cracks, and it's our job to try to find a way to help all those individuals as well.

I've reached out to his insurance, his Medicaid insurance, and at first they were very willing to be helpful, and then crickets.

Because we've also just received two 75-year-old and a 77-year-old.

We're getting a lot of men like this coming.

But please, if somebody's here who can help with that, we can do it.

But I want to acknowledge that we recognize that the city, both cities have taken this matter very seriously.

The county is taking it seriously.

There are complaints that need to be looked at and addressed, but it's not being ignored.

You know, you're moving forward.

Progress is being made.

You know, I remember Sean Griffin telling the story about how record street came uh into existence.

And so it is an improvement.

Please continue to press forward.

Please continue to look at these things and find solutions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Nyberg.

Can we have somebody from staff please contact Mr.

Nyberg?

I know he does a great job.

He needs some help.

He's he's helping the people that are at most at need.

So please uh help him.

Thank you.

Next up, Tricia Creedon, followed by Matthew Wilkie.

Hi, everybody.

My name is Tricia Creedon.

I'm glad to be here today, and I appreciate you guys coming together.

I would be the one that sent you the documentary, the homework to watch.

Um, Reno City in Crisis.

I am wondering if you guys got a chance to watch it.

Um I wish this interactive, interactive, because I'd like to know your thoughts.

I'm wondering if you saw a problem in any of it.

I'm wondering if you thought what you thought of the way that people are treated and what your heart does in the very real scene where the officer takes a knife to an occupied tent and slices through the side of it.

Do you guys think that maybe traumatized people coming at a traumatized people like that, aggressive like that maybe isn't helpful and actually very harmful.

I call for a stop to the sweeps.

I want to say that I'm disappointed and horrified at the CARES campus because you guys could have done something much more meaningful with the amount of money that was spent than to put them in a prison.

I have a feeling that the only reason that you push them down the street from record street like that is seeking them out of the view of tourists per the request at the casinos.

I hope at no.

If hands are tied in some way, please say so and let me know who to put the proper proper pressure on.

My hope is that before before we leave this meeting here today, per Michael Clark.

We meet every month and we make a meeting date.

Um just a quick observation that maybe we could do this different and make it interactive.

And you guys aren't just getting screamed at the whole time, and we feel like we're not getting listened to because you can't respond.

Um, thank you.

And have a good day.

Next up, Matthew Wilkie, followed by Stephen Markley.

Very good morning, Chair, members of the um board.

My name is Matthew Wilkie for the record.

And I'm here today because we are living through one of the worst housing crisis and homelessness crisis our region's ever seen.

And people are sleeping in their cars along the river in the parks and on the sidewalks.

Families with full-time jobs are one rent crease away from joining them.

I'd like to point out briefly that where the agenda for this board has been posted for years, is magically not there, even though it says so on the agenda.

I finally found the agenda with all the others from the county and not on the CHAB website where it has always been, even though it says so on the agenda.

Moving on.

In the middle of this crisis, two members of this very board who are currently running for mayors of their respective cities, who both happen to not be here at the moment, suggest dissolving this board, dissolving it.

Um, that is extraordinary, extraordinary level of political deft on us because when homelessness is exploding across this region, the solution isn't to eliminate one of the only regional bodies coordinating every spawn.

But that's exactly what we're hearing.

And let's call it what it is.

When politicians talk about dissolving a jum advisory boards, dissolving oversight, and dissolving public input, it usually means they don't want to listen to the hard questions about policies that they help create and voters notice.

People in this community are watching closely to who is willing to confront this crisis and who would rather make this conversation disappear.

Dissolving this crisis does not make homelessness disappears.

If anything, we should be expanding this board.

Um the one thing that's obviously missing is the voices here with lived experience.

Where is the one seat for the person who's actually lived homelessness?

The one person who has slept in their car during the winter, the one person who has turned away from a shelter and tried to navigate the maze the system is expect people that they expect people to survive in.

Um that are most impacted by your guys' decisions, are not in this room, and that needs to change.

I work in healthcare, as you can probably tell.

Um recently, one of my patients told me as I was talking to him that the Carson City Sheriff's Office picked him up and transported him to the CARES campus in Ludwig taking him to jail.

He said that he went because the alternative was jail.

That's not a choice, that's coercion.

It raises a serious question.

Are we solving homelessness or are jurisdictions quietly transporting vulnerable people across city lines so they become someone else's problem?

Because homelessness is not a game of municipal municipal hot potato, it's a regional crisis, and we're not going to talk about solutions.

And if we're not going to talk about solutions, um, let's talk about the safe parking.

We have six spots, six.

In a region where thousands of people are living in their vehicles, six spots is not a serious strategy.

Six bots is a press release.

So instead of talking about dissolving this board, we should be expanding it, adding lived experiences, and demanding policies that actually match this crisis.

People cannot dissolve their way out of the homelessness crisis, so dissolving this board is completely uncalled for.

Thank you for your time.

Next up, Stephen Markley, followed by Kelsey Owens.

Good morning, my name is Stephen Markley.

I appreciate seeing you all again.

Um, I'm here today to talk about the importance of having something like the community homeless advisory board.

Um top of having people who are either working in the field, who have been there or are currently living in that situation.

Giving those people a voice in a time when funding has been repeatedly slashed for services like community outreach, um, is very important because what it's what it's telling people is that you still value what they have to say.

And the truth is, if we want people who are living on the street or uh in financial crisis to even want to rejoin the society that we say is so worth living in, we need to let them know that their voices matter, even if they're not in the state that we would particularly like to be in ourselves.

Um, and as far as uh getting to the the crisis of people who are on the street and the housing crisis and all that, um, yes, cares is part of the solution.

Um, however, there needs to be more than one.

Um, in my time working with people who are unhoused in both a paid and unpaid position.

Uh, one thing I've learned is that there are a lot of people who have suffered trauma at CARES campus, uh, specifically women.

Uh unfortunately, you know, for women on the street, it's a much tougher time.

Uh, and I say that as someone who's witnessed it and lived it.

Every woman I knew on the street had a much tougher time than I did.

And if they're having to go to say the only shelter or jail, yet that shelter has someone who has sexually assaulted them, but no case was ever brought because they're living on the street, and they just don't have time to deal with it.

They have real crimes to deal with.

Uh you're gonna find people not wanting to even take part in that.

We need to get people who are living on the street to understand that we genuinely care about them, that we genuinely hear about them.

Uh we need to have community outreach programs.

We can't have the only solution be investing in in getting people in jail, right?

And I understand that that's that there's a part of that, and that Genie's not going back in the bottle, but we need to reinvest in those who dedicate their lives to going out and trying to help people because they've been there.

Um I don't know if you've talked to many people who are working in community outreach, but next up, Kelsey Owens, followed by Bri Brian Wadsworth.

Hello.

So I looked it up this morning in PRER, the Washoe County government website.

This board is tasked with providing input and making recommendations on homeless issues in the region.

And it states that y'all are supposed to be leading us on this issue with your expertise.

With that in mind, I'd like to ask this board do you personally know any of your unhoused constituents and neighbors?

Are any of them your friends?

Do any of your loved ones sleep on the street or in the bushes at night because mine do?

And they do not feel represented in this room.

To be honest, in a way, I can see the argument for dissolving this board simply because it is clearly not effective.

However, this is not the time for quitting.

This is the time for looking to those who are already effectively doing this work with or generally without any county or city funding.

This community is doing the work.

When we bring sandwiches, the city brings cops.

When we bring tents, the city brings cops.

When we open a warming center, the city brings cops.

When we stock community fridges and plant gardens, the city bring cops.

When we feed and clothe people week after week, help them just recover vital documents, medicines, mobility aids that have been stolen in sweeps, the city pays the cops who are doing the sweeping.

And now what's next?

To sweep all these folks away.

There are more of us on the street every month when rent is due.

These people include children, veterans, working citizens, disabled elders, abuse victims, my friends and neighbors.

You are showing them all every day that you simply do not care.

Well, we can agree that this board is currently not doing the work.

It is at least allowing a space for those who are to speak to you and to their peers.

It is allowing some semblance of accountability.

Look to rise, look to Hampton House, look to Food Not Bombs, Family Suit Mutual Aid, Soil Solidarity, the hundreds of citizens on the ground every day and night.

I echo the demand that other lived experiences get to have a voice in this room.

None of my friends are here getting to speak for themselves.

And if you've decided that you do not want to do this work, please feel free to give your funding and your platform to those who do.

And until those solutions have been proposed, do not shut the door in our faces.

Thank you.

Next up, Brian Wadsworth, followed by Christian Brown.

Hi, good morning for the record.

My name is Brian Wadsworth, and I'm a member of the Pyramid Lake Pai tribe.

I'm also a candidate for the Democratic candidate for Washoe County Commissioner for District 5.

So I wanted to start by thanking the community homelessness advisory board for having this important meeting.

I was excited to attend last month, um, but that got rescheduled, so I'm glad you guys are having this meeting here.

I also want to thank the all the community members for showing up today.

And I really hope this entity isn't isn't dissolved.

Um I really hope it's not.

And I also agree that the advisory board should be expanded.

I think our homelessness issue here in Washoe County isn't going to go away.

And having the board dissolved and just brushing this issue under the rug isn't a good solution.

And I think having all the people here shows how important this is for our community here in Washoe County and how all of us want to come up with solutions for our community members here in Washoe County.

And I also agree with the gentleman that spoke about accountability for these services for the CARES campus and all the different entities that work on the homelessness population here.

It's an academy where we're learning everything and anything about Washoe County, including all the different services that are provided by the county.

And we had the unique opportunity to get uh behind the scenes look at the CARES campus and really see the participants and get get a feel for what they live day to day, as well as a tour of the crossroads campus on the men's campus.

So being able to talk with those participants, hearing their stories, how how they got there, and how they're better than bettering themselves, and how the crossroads program has helped better better their lives.

But what can we do more as a community?

I am looking forward more to the conversations of how we're gonna look at look at um helping our unhouse population here.

So again, I really hope that this advisory board is is not dissolved, but it's uh its services are expanded.

And I think when we talk about solutions, we need to bring back humanity into these conversations.

To me, it seems uh a lot of these conversations, whether we're talking about our unhoused population or immigration or um our LGBTQ community, it all boils down to a thing.

And we need to remember that these are these are people, these are people within our communities.

They're they're someone's um someone's son, someone's daughter, a family member, a friend.

And to me, it's very troubling how some uh a thing such as being unhoused defines someone's worth on on who they are, but they're all members of our members of our community and deserve deserve compassion, deserve respect, and deserve care.

So I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next up, Christian Brown.

Uh hi, good morning, everybody.

Uh my name is Christian D.

Brown.

Um, and first off, I just want to thank you guys for putting on this meeting um and listening to community members.

Uh, though I've noticed that Ed Lawson and Kathleen Taylor aren't here, and I've heard that they're the main pushers for dismantling this.

Um, so for those that are here, thank you.

Um, there's a ton of things that need to be addressed to actually solve our homeless problem.

Uh, like a lot of people have said, better care facilities, housing, better public transportation, and trained community workers that can actually, you know, help these people on the ground and help them take care of themselves.

Um, if I'm not mistaken, we have a budget increase of seven million for the police force coming up in June, making it 120 million a year, uh, just for them.

Um, what do you guys think would happen if we reallocated some of those funds to better community care and actually tackling some of these problems that are putting people in these conditions?

Um, do you think that Rena would look better or even you know cleaner, nicer?

It's food for thought.

Um, we also have a large generation that's about to start needing a lot more care, and the care is just simply not there.

Um there isn't a stronger, more efficient system in place.

Um, there's a great deal of people that I that can't really take care of themselves that are gonna be on the streets.

Um that generation's getting old and it's we're starting to see it.

It's not gonna be long before they can't start paying their bills and rent and stuff like that.

Um I don't think this board should be dissolved.

There's a lot of work to do, and I hope this board can actually bring some solutions to the problems that unhoused people are currently facing, and that this board can grow and become something a little stronger than it is.

Um, I totally agree with having monthly meetings.

Um, it'd be awesome if you could have better times for people that you know want to speak to come that don't have to take time off work or um, you know, it's easier places for people to speak up and throw their ideas around and all that jazz.

Um, so anyways, again, I didn't have too much to say today.

Thank you guys and uh have a good day.

We have no more comments signed in.

Thank you.

Thank you uh for all your comments.

Um everyone that spoke today had something good to say, some good points, some valid points, some things that we need to consider.

So thank you for for showing up.

Uh I agree with uh the last speaker that you know maybe we should have it a different time.

Maybe we should make it more convenient for folks to attend.

Uh I and I I also uh want to push for monthly meetings for at least the next four or five, six months and get back on track and then maybe go every other month, something like that.

There's a lot of material that we need to cover.

Um, you know, it isn't just about the folks sitting up here, and it isn't about the folks sitting in the room.

It's it's the folks that are the souls that are out on the streets right now.

And many people have mentioned that in their comments that uh there's very few people who've had the lived and the lived experience in this room.

And and I'd like to see somebody uh from that community, somebody who's actually lived that life.

Uh, I don't think that anybody up here on the dais can claim that they've lived how to live outside and uh live in the bushes, as somebody else pointed out.

Uh we don't have to do that.

We haven't done that.

And and we need to hear from people who are out there.

I'm gonna tell you this.

I'm gonna take it upon myself to go out as uh as the uh the chair of this commission and interview people on the street and film that and maybe have an opportunity to to share those people with lived experiences who don't want to come down here and just have them talk and and tell their story and maybe people can understand what what's really uh taking place.

So uh we're gonna have uh uh commissioner comments now.

So I'm gonna start off with uh with the vice chair, Mr.

Chair, Herb Kaplan for the record.

We do not have that item today.

Oh, well, that's right.

We don't have that here, right?

I think we need to change that as well.

Okay.

Um we're going to go right in then to uh item five and uh excuse me, four item four.

Uh that's uh approval of the minutes for the December 2nd, 2025 community homeless advisory board meeting for possible action.

Second very well.

We'll uh have a vote to uh public comment on this.

Uh any public comment on the minutes from our uh meeting and uh no one has signed in.

No comments.

Okay, we'll move forward then on a vote.

I all right.

Now we move to item five uh discussion and possible action to make a recommendation to each of the governing bodies, including Washoe County, Board of County Commissioners, the Reno City Council, and the Spark City Council to dissolve the community homeless advisory board, chab for possible action.

Mr.

Chair, yes, uh to the DA.

What is the current um bylaws for our board say on this?

So do our boards, our actual boards have to take this up and put this on the agenda per our direction, or can our boards do that independently?

Herb Kaplan for the record.

It can happen either way, whether there's a recommendation or from this board or not.

But my understanding is that this issue has been raised several times along the way by numerous board members.

And so there's no need to make a recommendation.

However, it does have to go through each of the the governing bodies if the board decides that it wants to be disbanded.

Okay.

So back to the DA.

It's on our agenda for discussion, so we can talk about it amongst this board now.

And in the future, if other governing boards want to uh uh weigh in on it and and have a vote in their own respective uh uh uh miss municipalities that can do that.

Is that correct?

Herb Kaplan for the record, yes, that's correct.

So that's what we're gonna do now.

We're gonna talk among the members that are here and see if anybody here wants to dissolve it.

I put this on the agenda specifically uh for a particular member wanted it on the agenda.

So uh when people put this people sit on a board with me and they want something on the agenda, I'll put it on the agenda and uh we'll have a discussion.

We'll let people explain themselves if they show up to the meetings.

That didn't happen.

So uh we've got uh one person publicly asking for it, another person uh ask uh uh suggest that they were uh in favor of that.

Neither of those individuals are here.

So amongst the the group that's here, do we have any comments from the uh vice chair?

Not the vice chair, but uh as a matter of fact, I'm an alternate chair.

Um and I do just want to put on the record that um I'm filling in for councilwoman Vanderbilt, who's um was on the uh DC trip on behalf of the City of Sparks, and I know Mayor Lawson is not feeling well right now, but um uh as the alternate representing Sparks.

Uh you know, I know Councilwoman Vanderwill and I share the same passion about this.

I mean, do you want to see this board continue?

Um I sit on a number of regional boards that do 100% believe that this is a regional issue, and I can't uh think of a board that this is very important.

Oh I think I'll say the next one's part of you talking about regional relation to fire.

Um, and I know on City Sparks, uh, for those of you don't know, um, our C tax or portion of our revenue is very minimal.

It's 12 cents of a dollar.

So the money that the City Sparks puts in to this uh to work together, it means a lot to us.

I mean, every penny counts.

You know, every penny is a police officer or a firefighter in the city of Sparks.

So um, and a time where there's a lot of division that people see um on the news and whatnot that is us at the local level that should keep this going to work on this issue together.

So um, I I would like to see this uh continue.

Um in the future, I hope to sit on this board more permanent.

Um I mean, really, I have a whole list of things I wanted to say, but uh it's gonna be trying times, especially as we look to um federal safe safety nets that may be cut.

There might be more pressure, more straining on us at the local and and state level.

So people are running for state office.

This is you know, we need help.

Um, and this community needs help.

So a lot of those pressures may fall upon us that we're we may be called upon more.

So and it um I'm sorry, I don't know all the full bylaws.

You know, I am an alternate.

I I I apologize for that, but if people are saying that this board's not efficient, then maybe that's something that the permanent board members need to look at.

Change your changing our mission.

Um, I do believe there's been success, and with that success, there's still more work to be done.

So I don't think that this board should you know decelerate, maybe change our viewpoints to looking more to um you know, housing support or things of that nature.

But uh this is this is an action item, and uh on behalf of City Sparks representing City Sparks today.

I would vote to keep it going and challenge it to continue more.

Thank you for your comments, Mr.

Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name I'm Brandy Anderson with the City of Reno, and I am the member from the city here today, and my presence is um should signal that I think that this is a an ongoing and important conversation with the community.

Whether or not we can do anything that is binding at this board, um, matters less than whether uh or not we understand, can identify where our opportunities are to improve the services and the way that we are caring for our community and how we can get those things done.

Um this board will be necessary to be in existence until we are no longer worrying about the fact that community members that are vulnerable in our community are they need help, whether it's food, whether it's housing, whether it's services, whether it's reconnection with family, whether it's mental health support, until they're under shelter and being cared for, we are going to have things to talk about and things to solve.

And if this board is where we start, that's where I will be.

That's where the city of Breno will be.

Um, I am we are open to revising the structure of this board.

If it becomes um something that sounds like it makes sense to the community where there are additional members, maybe I don't know what that looks like, but if elected officials don't need to be sitting in every single one of these sets, and there are people that can add additional value and help us solve problems faster, the city of Breno is open to that.

So thank you for holding the meeting.

I will be here when you schedule the next one.

And um, to the community that comes and shares your your thoughts and ideas and concerns.

Um we appreciate that.

We need to hear from you whether we want to know the severity of the problems that we are unable to solve tonight.

We need to know how to get there, and all of your ideas are important to us.

So thank you for your patience with us.

Um for me, it's frustrating to hear that things are considered abject failures because people that aren't cold and aren't hungry and aren't in danger, every single one of them every single night that we are able to solve for that matters.

And so I don't look at the work here as being maybe it's incomplete, and until every member of our community is cared for, we need to keep meeting and keep solving these problems.

Thank you for your comments.

Too many comments.

Okay, so uh I I agree with many of the things that you said uh as well.

I mean, there's many times when uh when you're a leader of an organization or business owner where uh there's times when you you don't like what you hear, but you need to hear it.

And I think that's what this board is about.

You pointed out rightfully so that this is an advisory board, doesn't have a lot of clout.

However, this is the place where we need to get you folks and the community involved.

If nothing else, this board should be here just so the community can come in and share their experiences and their thoughts and and make sure that it gets on the record and uh people get to hear what you think is what you think is very important to us.

So with that, uh look for a motion to not dissolve the board.

With that, we'll uh have uh any public comment with that.

Do you need public comment with this particular item?

I'm sorry, there's no one signed in.

Very well.

Then uh we're gonna vote uh to not dissolve this board.

Aye, I okay, so it's unanimous.

Thank you very much, uh, members for that that vote.

I think it sends a uh a very important signal to the people that are here in the audience that that we do care and we do want to hear from you and we want to continue with this, even though it's an advisory board, we still need information so we can advise our respective uh boards.

Thank you.

So you're gonna read that uh in or do you want me to read that?

Okay.

Discussion and possible action to make a recommendation to each of the governing bodies, including the Washoe County Board of Commissioners, the Rito City Council, the Spark City Council to adopt new resolutions to modify respectfully resolution number uh N, excuse me, R uh 18017 resolution number 8499 and resolution number 30 3332, provide for additional members of the community homeless advisory board, and or rename the community homeless advisory board to the community unhoused advisory board.

We're having public comment on this now.

No one signed in.

Any discussion amongst the members?

Okay, that to make this clear to the the folks in the audience, uh, we're going to figure out how we can uh have some additional members to the community homeless advisory board, citizens is what I'm looking for, and hopefully it's some people with lived experiences who can who can uh help us and act as our interpreters and help us guide us through what their experiences are.

So uh looking for a motion to uh this or any discussion first, please.

If you have any um, Chair Clark, would you mind um expanding a little bit more on what the process is for this?

This seems like it would need some type of um policy discussion by either each of our communities or the legislature.

So if somebody could provide clarity on that would be and I think we will get that clarity.

Uh this is just uh to advance the idea of uh in having other citizens involved in this.

It is the citizens and community homeless advisory board.

We want to have some citizens involved, some citizens involvement.

I don't know what that number is gonna be yet, but are you open to uh allowing uh you know the civilians for lack of a better word to sit on the board, a couple of them?

How does that can you explain that to us how that how it might work?

Uh Mr.

Kaplan.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair Herb Kaplan for the record.

I this again would have to go since this board was created and the the constitution of the board was specifically spelled out in those resolutions.

This would have to go to each of the governing bodies to modify or revise the uh constitution of the board.

So in that respect, we we can recommend whatever the board's pleasure is, but I would ask that the motion that's made be specific as to what exactly we are asking that those governing bodies to uh approve.

Certainly, and I agree with that.

This is just again, people pointed out this is an advisory board, and I'm looking for the advisory board to recommend as an advisory item to the respective bodies that we're uh looking at this with their approval to include private citizens in this body as well at non-mo voting members, just for input from those folks.

That's that's what I'm looking for, and hopefully we can craft a way that that'll uh pass muster with the other municipalities.

And if not, we'll understand that they don't want to hear from the citizens on the board.

Can I do okay, Chair Clark?

I think that it would be um for my from my view for my board, it would be helpful to outline some goals on what the vision of having the additional voices on the board was for.

It would make it um easier to frame to the city council why we would be going through the motions with each of the municipalities because there's a shared goal to bring these voices on for a certain reason.

Is that the right is that the right way to do this, or is there a subcommittee that can be formed based on the things that we discuss at this board that has more um I don't know value and action in the community?

I'm I'm just looking at what your vision of what the goal is of expanding the board.

Sure, and I'll I'll let Mr.

Kaplan weigh in on that.

But my vision is to have some people who've lived the life experiences, advising us and and meeting with us here and sharing, you know, we might think this is a good idea to make one-way streets around around that uh facility, and maybe that isn't the best thing.

I I want to hear from people who who understand what it's like living the way they do, having to uh figure out how to stay warm and how they get the food and and and whatever, whatever anything that they can bring to the table to illuminate their lifestyle and how we can make their lifestyle better is is what I'm what I'm trying to get done here.

This is a nonpartisan, this has nothing to do with the CARES campus.

This is uh, you know, uh from my point of view.

I just want to hear from folks that are actually living this life, and we might think that this is a way to fix something, and they might say that this this doesn't work because of this.

So we need that input, I think.

And uh uh I'm looking to to uh push forward on this.

And however we make it work or not work is through the process.

Let it go through the process.

Again, this is an advisory uh board, and uh I'm trying to uh get input from from folks that know more about this than I do if I make sure uh uh thank you.

Um yeah, I think I have to uh kind of like echo um councilwoman understands me, you know.

Like uh I believe Sparks would be interested in this, but I think uh there are those questions and and I hear what you're saying, um to give the people that voice.

Um, you know, I but I think it does kind of kind of like what the what are we looking to achieve, you know, especially if we're looking at um contributing city renal staff time, spark staff time, uh just kind of like to have that forward goals.

I I mean if you're if the agenda item is to see if Sparks Areno and County are open to exploring this opportunity.

Um that's something I I think uh we could be supportive of, but uh definitely outlining the goals to like um you know, a member of general public, who are the candidates we're looking to achieve.

Um, because I I will say I know like with the city of Sparks, we had a number of different boards and committees.

Um they took a lot of staff time, but I had a hard time uh those citizens, those volunteers oftentimes then lead to uh having a quorum.

So we actually had to reorganize our our different citizen advisory committees and things of that nature.

So um I also will see that's maybe a potential concern that I may have, but um again, if if we're looking to explore going down this, I think that's something that Sparks can support, but we definitely would like to have those, you know, outline what is our goal and objective so that those members, those citizens are volunteering their time uh know what the work and what we're asking, what this body would be asking for.

Very well.

Any comments I think it uh we should uh agendize something for each of our bodies to consider.

I'm sure the staff have some thoughts.

I my concern is the board technically is it six members?

So then we'll have potentially a nine member board.

It's just something to consider on like how big the board needs to be.

And so I think the staff can we can give direction for the staff to come up with some options and we can consider them at our bodies, unless people I mean, Mr.

Chairman, you you asked for this.

So do you have a particular vision for what you'd like to see?

Well, I I would like to thank you.

Uh I would like to uh just consider the idea of of having some private citizens on the board, maybe not voting members, but at least sit on the board and and could uh share with us their experiences.

Uh again, this is an advisory board.

Uh it may get shot down again.

We move at the speed of government many times.

Many times we may not have have uh this may not come up again.

I I don't know.

I'm just suggesting that we go back to our respective boards and suggest that they might consider uh allowing someone else to sit on the board.

So that's that's all I'm looking for today.

Is it something that we would share with our respective boards and ask them to consider uh uh letting some private citizens sit on the board as associate members?

That that's that's what I'm looking to do here.

And I only have one vote, so you folks decide if you're interested in in in pursuing that or not.

Chair Clark, I think the the my guess trepidation here is that I don't really know how to make this into an actual motion.

So what I can commit to you today is not as much a motion.

We have a per, you know, possible action here is that I will commit to you that I will go back to our city manager and share the the discussion that we've had here and see what type of an agenda conversation or item that we can have with our body.

Um we just need to figure out how to make it a relevant conversation at the city council where there's any action.

Um we do have legislative teams that are starting to talk about where you know what kinds of bills, what kinds of support we're gonna need during the next legislative session.

So this could end up being something that gets you know tailored into one of those conversations.

But for today and our discussion, I think the best that I can do to you or good do for you and for the people in this audience is that I will take this discussion back to my city manager.

Fair enough, Mr.

Rodriguez.

Uh same.

I actually have my staff meeting later this afternoon, so I'll bring it up to them.

Fair enough.

So again, I want everyone to understand my position is I think that we need some input from other than just elected officials.

And whether it happens or whether we table this or whether this moves forward, I'm gonna suggest this to my body that we should consider having uh people with lived-in experiences uh join our board our body or join our board and uh this particular board and uh bring bring some uh some street knowledge, some street sense, and uh and bring that information to us and and maybe it'll help us make uh other decisions and share that information with the county management and and you share it with your respective boards.

So I guess uh look to DA.

Should we just uh table this as of today and and move forward with with it out out there now in the uh the atmosphere, people understanding that that I'm I'm receptive to having some some folks here, and it just depends on whether the other bodies are or not, including my own.

Herb Kaplan for the record.

I I think two things.

Number one, this falls into the same category since we are created by three governing bodies.

The governing bodies can revise that anytime they want, but it does have to be all three of them that work in concert.

Number two is based on the conversation here.

It sounds like this is this idea is not as concrete as it should be, because what I'd be looking for in a motion is the number of people, you know, whether they're voting members.

It sounds like those things need to be fleshed out at this point to determine whether it's just one individual, whether they're voting member or not, whether it's one individual from each of the jurisdictions.

So I think it it can be tabled.

I don't see based on the comments of the board members that we're gonna have a motion that's gonna pass, at least on the A part of this.

We haven't really talked about the B part at this point, but um it sounds like something that needs to be fleshed out a little bit more and probably should be tabled at this point with the ability of each of the members to go to the governing bodies to kind of talk to see where the governing bodies might feel it's appropriate.

Fair enough.

So we've got uh got the ball rolling.

I don't know how far the ball is gonna roll, but it's uh it's out there.

We're discussing it, hopefully.

Uh we have any public comment on this.

No one has signed in.

Okay.

Very well.

Then we'll move on to item seven presentation and overview of the areno initiative for shelter and equity, rise outreach care cost, and community impact.

Presentation and overview of the Reno initiative for shelter and equity, RISE outreach care, cost and community impact, Ben Castro, RISE, non-action item.

Good morning, Mr.

Chair, members of the board.

Uh, my name's Benjamin Castro.

I'm the executive director of RISE.

Uh, this is Mary Charles.

She's a crossroads expansion program manager, and she was also our outreach manager during our time uh with uh Clean and Safe program.

So we're gonna talk with you briefly about that.

I will try not to be long-winded.

Uh so a little bit about who we are.

We were founded in 2012.

Um actually the work started in 2011 for I guess just for the community at large.

Uh we definitely take our role of of public stewards very seriously.

Uh, our website, it's a little clunky right now.

We plan on replacing it here soon, but all of our 990s and our audited financial statements can be found there, open for the public.

So we very much welcome anybody to review that information.

Uh we see ourselves not as crisis uh responders, even though it feels that way, but uh uh more of a navigation function with the broader system of the county and city of Reno homeless response system.

Uh core beliefs that guide this work, relationship is the primary primary intervention when we're working with our unhoused neighbors.

Uh dignity and accountability are not opposites.

Um predictability and consistency create safety.

The people we serve are the experts in their own lives.

They're the ones who will tell us what works and what doesn't, and bringing them into the community is the method.

So at this point, I'm gonna give it over to Mary since uh she does all the heavy lifting, and I think uh she can speak for herself.

Thank you.

Our work is guided by core beliefs like relationships as the primary intervention and the idea that people are the expert in their own lives.

What makes RISE effective is our culture.

We use peer leadership and lived experience.

We set clear expectations while treating people with dignity, and we stay present even when progress is slow.

The approach builds trust and trust is what creates real engagements and outcomes.

This funding wasn't just for one-time actions, it built long-term outreach capacity by presence in the field, trauma-informed engagement, and strong administrative and data systems.

From 2022 to 2025, RISE conducted 867 initial engagements with unsheltered individuals.

For us, engagement means more than contact.

It means people are seen, addressed by name, given clear communication, and supported with follow-through and respect for their autonomy.

Uh real quick, I'm I'm sorry to interject.

I think it's also important to establish the parameters of where our outreach was.

Uh so this was in partnership with the City of Reno's Clean and Safe Team.

Our parameters were Reno proper, excluding the BID, the business improvement district.

So that context, I think is important.

RISE outreach resulted in 260 direct housing and shelter placements, including emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent housing.

Review housing as a process built on trust, document readiness, benefit access, and sustained engagement, not a single referral.

A lot of our work happens before housing is even possible.

RISE helped people replace IDs, recover benefits, enroll in health care and food assistance and access treatment.

These are the building blocks of stability.

Beyond housing and benefits, RISE focused on whole person outcomes like reconnecting people with family, providing aftercare support, helping people keep their pets, and supporting vulnerable populations.

These are the kind of outcomes that reduce repeat homelessness.

All right.

I think I'll take it from here.

All right.

I know I know Mary gets super um nervous when she's talking, uh, doing public speaking, but she's amazing with the people we work with and um definitely a role model for a lot of us.

And I so appreciate you being here with us today.

Um expenses, I know this is what most people want to look at.

Uh so it was a little over a million dollars for that three and a half years that we were with the city of Reno.

Uh, this included wages, fringe payroll expenses, uh, supervision, field leadership, uh, transportation, everything that comes with fleet maintenance, uh, program supplies and direct operating costs.

If we were gonna compare it to per engagement, uh, so we were looking at about 1200 per engagement with each one of our unhoused neighbors.

Again, this isn't just uh, I gave them a quick survey and we never saw them again.

Engagement means that we are actually working with them on a prolonged um basis, uh, but a little less than 4500 per housing placement, and about 17 grand per permanent housing exit.

Uh so I know that looks like a lot of money, and it is.

I'm not um afraid to admit that.

Uh if we look at comparing it to other uh potential expenses that the community is engaging with.

So an emergency room visit can be anywhere between two to four thousand dollars.

Uh a short jail stay or law enforcement booking could be upwards of three thousand.

Uh hospitalization could be anywhere between ten to thirty thousand, uh repeated encampment cleanups, high recurring costs with no lasting outcomes.

That I think is important to also highlight uh when we're talking about encampment cleanups or uh relocations or otherwise known as sweeps.

Uh, I'm not referring to outreach uh by our law enforcement agencies or uh officers, I mean just direct cleanups.

I think it's important to uh point out that distinction.

So why does this matter?

Outreach shifts public dollars from recurring crises to permanent solutions.

Uh our bottom line, uh we demonstrate that yeah, relationship driven work produces measurable, verifiable outcomes.

Um exact expenditure expenditures translate directly into housing.

Permanent housing placements are achievable through outreach when trust and consistency are present.

It's about having the right people on the floor, really is what that looks like.

Um culture and accountability reinforce fiscal discipline.

Um, and our work works because uh it's grounded in dignity, consistency, and trust.

This is the value we bring to our system and why these outcomes are sustainable, not incidental.

I think it's also really important to point out that uh about 90% of our staff uh are people with lived experience.

Uh, I know there's a lot of controversy right now about hiring people with lived experience or offering second chances to those who live with lived experience.

Um there's an appropriate way to do that.

Uh there's best practices, there's formal training.

I have five uh certified peer supervisors, uh certified peer recovery sports specialists, supervisors on staff that provide uh formal supervision to those with lived experience because this is a traumatizing environment, and it's really important that we make sure that they have the guidance and support they need so that they don't backslide.

Um any case, uh I went really fast.

So really appreciate your guys' time and for all of you being here.

If you have any questions, we're happy to answer those.

Any questions?

I have a question.

Thank you for the presentation and for the work that you're doing on behalf of everybody in our community.

You uh you had a slide and you had a you had a clarification about a cost of cleanups.

There was a can you go through that data for me one more time?

Uh, are we looking at this one?

Um I think it was this slide.

You said repeated encampment cleanup cleanups, high recurring costs with no lasting outcome.

And then you you um specified that it wasn't the law enforcement cleanups, it was just cleanups.

I was just wondering if you could expand on what I was doing.

Sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.

Um, so I didn't really want to put a number on this just because I figured that would be more of a uh it would be too distracting that we would all argue about how much does it really cost, and and that's not really the point.

Um I when I made that distinction, so uh law enforcement agencies have have teams, you know, there's the hope team, uh, which I know the county's gonna be doing a presentation here soon.

When I'm talking about those um encampment cleanups, I don't mean to group that sort of outreach services into this uh into those cost expenditures.

So what that team does, and again, I don't want to speak for them, I know they're gonna come up here and present, but they're doing outreach connection to services, um, uh providing survival gear, i.e., food, stuff like that, um, versus uh like calling the bulldozers, bringing in all the dumb trucks, et cetera.

Uh so that is uh comes with a pretty hefty price tag.

So when I'm referring to recurring costs with no lasting outcomes, that's what that's what I mean.

I hope that makes sense.

Cool.

Mr.

Rodriguez.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Any questions?

I I've got a couple of questions, uh, Mr.

Castro.

Uh on the the rise outreach actuals for comparison.

Uh can you explain how those how you arrive at those numbers, say uh 1266 to the 17,000 for under the comparisons?

Yeah.

Yes, sir, absolutely.

Um, so this was our total expenses for uh our time underneath the clean and safe umbrella.

Um, if we go back, these were basically our outcomes.

Uh, and then at that point it's just simple arithmetic, right?

Okay.

Um that's how we can compare though, just those two slides.

We'll look at the number of folks housed and how much it costs.

The 17,000 dollars was broken down by the number of folks.

Is that simple?

Correct.

Okay, very well.

Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation.

Absolutely appreciate your time.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you.

Number uh eight on our agenda presentation of the city uh city of Reno clean and safe team, including outreach operations and coordination.

Cynthia Espara.

Non-action item.

Good morning, Chair Clark, members of the board.

My name is Cynthia Esparza.

I'm the director of community engagement and services for the city of Reno.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on the city's clean and safe program.

Uh RISE went into some of the um outcomes related to outreach, but I'll go into this a little bit further.

Uh, today's presentation will highlight how the city is addressing homelessness in public spaces while also connecting individuals experiencing homelessness with available resources in our community.

Clean and safe uh was built on four core pillars, which include education, and this consists of calls with our community, as service requests come in, outreach, enforcement, and restoration of public spaces.

And we also focus on improving equitable access to public spaces for everyone to enjoy.

This, of course, includes our residents, visitors, and our unsheltered neighbors.

Our goal is not only to address homeless encampments in public areas, but also connect those individuals with housing options services whenever possible.

And we also recognize that that does take time.

This work requires coordination across departments, and most importantly, with our regional partners, whom we greatly appreciate.

Addressing homelessness requires collaboration, as I just mentioned, and multiple uh levels of government are involved with this and our nonprofit community.

This slide may look familiar from the December housing presentation that came before the CHAB.

Uh the Clean and Safe was created in 2019, and this was in response to the increase of unsheltered individuals throughout the city of Reno.

Prior to that, we had internal operations, but this really coordinated one central space for citywide responses uh to this issue.

Following the regional transportation in 2021, Clean and Safe has focused on bridging gaps and removing barriers to better connect individuals and countering, we encounter in public spaces uh with housing, shelter, potentially rent and deposit assistance or connections to, say, like a rapid rehab program that was established last year.

For today's presentation, I will be providing a 12-month overview of cost operations and outcomes for fiscal year 25, our most recent full year.

Uh fiscal year 26 data is still in progress and would only reflect one portion of this.

While operational and responsibilities for regional shelter and homeless services transition to Washoe County, as was mentioned in the previous slide in 2021, the city continues to address the broader community impacts of homelessness throughout the city of Reno.

In fiscal year 25, it amounted to roughly 7.6 million, with the vast majority coming from the city's general fund.

This includes significant staff time in multiple departments and contracts that we have in place with our outreach providers, uh, allied security, equipment, and also supporting uh additional programs internally.

As we look to end fiscal year 26, we also recognize that grant funding will likely be decreasing as well as our our ARPA funding because funds were expended at the end of the fall.

Well, this may lead to a slight reduction.

Our response to homeless impacts will continue to have a general significant impact on our general fund.

So when we talk about the clean and safe team, we are talking about multiple departments that partake in this operation.

We have three clean and safe staff members that coordinate citywide efforts, including working with our regional partners, communicating with uh residents, coordinating our contractors, and say our partners that we have through interlocal agreements.

Additionally, key partners include our community action officers, park and river rangers, code enforcement and housing and neighborhood development that are highlighted here.

Our maintenance and operations team also partake in larger cleanups as they happen, but we always strive on not ensuring that those encampments don't get to that size.

And last but not least, I would also like to highlight our contractors.

We do have Allied Security hired through the city of Reno, and also our Hazmat team who does conducts most of our cleanups, and we also have a shopping cart retrieval program.

Clean and safe team operations.

And then, of course, our maintenance.

This occurs citywide.

This would include areas in a public right-of-way, in a park, along the river.

City walks is something that we introduced a year and a half ago, almost two years, that I'll go into that momentarily.

And the last one, occupied vehicles are managed through the Clean and Safe team via our outreach coordinator and also law enforcement.

As mentioned, education, outreach, restoration, and maintenance are our core pillars.

But certainly community health and safety is incredibly important for our community.

We recognize encampments can create significant health and safety concerns for both individuals living in them and also the surrounding community and recognize that these situations involve real challenges for vulnerable community members.

At the same time, long-term encampments cannot remain in these locations as they typically may be in the public right-of-way along the river or in parks and can impact adjacent natural resources.

Our goal is to respond thoughtfully while supporting public spaces and ensuring that we are mitigating any fire hazards, waste accumulation, or environmental impacts and safety risk.

Of course, I would like to reiterate that we always lead with outreach and connect people to services.

It can take time, but that's part of our mission.

And public spaces.

This is an example.

Through outreach, we do uh comply with noticing procedures and cleanup efforts.

The city works to restore these spaces so they remain accessible to the broader community.

Restoration also helps prevent long-term environmental damages and improves neighborhood conditions.

And this was located, I believe, in um in the Weteken area.

So speaking of outreach, this is what we lead with.

Um, I will highlight that our outreach contracts did end last fall.

They were ARPA funding, and we currently do not have additional outreach contracts.

We do have an outreach coordinator who works closely with multiple community partners and nonprofits.

So when we talk about uh the 124 housing arrangements, this is for one fiscal year.

Uh, this would include rapid rehousing, potentially uh someone accessing uh deposit assistance and then rental assistance and transitioning into an apartment, and then the 371 identification replacements.

This could be a social security card, an ID, and that gets individuals closer to accessing additional services or social security benefits as well.

In regards to maintenance for fiscal year 25, we did hold 148 cleanups.

These would be operations with our field coordinator, uh, potentially Union Pacific as a partner, uh, and also our contractor that supports these efforts.

764 notices were issued.

This occurs prior to a cleanup, giving people the ability to prepare, accept services, andor transportation to the shelter if that's what they are seeking at that time.

And then also uh waste collection, which resulted in 3,022 cubic yards that year.

And as we look at clean and safe from 2020 to 2025, I do want to highlight that our work is really uh driven in response to service requests that are that come through our Reno Direct, which is our community call center.

Uh since 2022 date, we have received over 22,000 service requests.

Um, as I mentioned, the clean and safe team includes multiple departments.

So I broke this down in a way to highlight the departments that are responding to concerns.

Um, clean and safe is a truly a catch-all for just general homeless concerns.

But if there's something on private property, code enforcement takes the lead.

Our outreach is available as a resource as well.

Occupied vehicles, as was previously shared.

It's clean and safe and our law enforcement.

That's a joint effort.

And then anything in a park or the river that is for our parks department.

And interestingly, in the past couple of years, a river ranger program and park ranger program was established.

And as you see this data, you could see that trending downwards because we have a little bit more support in those spaces, specifically the river.

And to conclude, I would like to highlight uh an additional program that we have within Clean and Safe, which is our city walks program.

This is our approach to proactively address uh trending issues, emerging issues, calls that are coming in.

Um this team is comprised of the same departments, and this is a boots on the ground approach to multiple areas throughout the city of Reno.

We do two walks within the downtown business improvement district and two walks citywide.

Um, and then the image you see there are the current service requests that are open citywide related to uh concerns with homelessness.

So it could be an occupied vehicle, it could be encampments in a park, the river, private property, et cetera.

So by doing this, we're able to connect with residents, um, connect with vulnerable community members as well, um, conduct outreach if there are multiple occupied vehicles in an area and support them.

And for fiscal year 25, there are a total of 169 city walks and almost 700 community contacts.

So really building those relationships, getting people connected to services if that's what they want at that time, but at the same time serving our community.

Um, and sometimes community members um join us for these walks as they see us, or we let them know hey, we received um X number of service requests in the last month in this area.

Based on this, we are conducting a walk.

You're welcome to join us.

And as I conclude this presentation, I'd like to stress that this work requires persistence and strong collaboration, and the city of Reno remains committed to maintaining uh safe public spaces while equally supporting efforts connected to individuals with the services and housing uh opportunities that support long term stability.

And with that, that's the end.

Thank you for your report.

Do we have any questions, comments?

Mr.

Rodriguez.

Uh thank you.

Uh thank you for your uh presentation.

Um just out of curiosity, I have like those community contacts or the contacts that you have out there.

Um, how many of them are uh minors?

You know, it's it's hard to quantify how many are minors.

Um, we do have our outreach team that would have a little bit more detail, but that that's something that we do encounter.

We work closely with the Eddy House.

So if there's a cleanup that happens or a city walk that happens along the river and we encounter a high volume of minors, they would be contacted as well.

Okay, and that resource you said they usually refer over to like the Eddie High.

Correct.

All right.

Um thank you, appreciate it.

Comments, questions?

Very well.

Thank you.

Commissioner Clerk, I'm sorry.

I just have one thank you for the presentation.

Thank you for being here today.

Um, one thing I forgot to that I was going to ask.

I've had a few people in the community ask me for clarity on the process when we do conduct a cleanup and we move people out of camps.

What are we doing to um preserve or protect the documentation that we encounter during those those um efforts?

Yeah.

So before a cleanup, everyone's noticed.

We also recognize that sometimes people may not see the notice in time.

So we do store property.

Uh, we follow um an internal process, and there is a notice that is provided.

If residents um see that, they could certainly contact Reno Direct, and Reno Direct will connect them to our team, and then they could retrieve their property upon verification, of course, but because that does happen frequently, and we hold property for 90 days in accordance with case law.

Okay, so 90 days Reno Direct.

Correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Moving on to item nine presentation and overview of street outreach efforts by the Washoe County homeless outreach proactive engagement hope team uh included the its uh successes and challenges, Washoe County Sheriff's Office staff.

Non action item.

Thank you for joining us this morning.

Good morning.

Chair Clark and Advisory Board members.

Um, I'd like to present to you our Washoe County Hope team.

And I'd like to share some 2025 overview.

Yeah.

Um, this was actually created for the CAB meeting for Spanish Springs.

It's all relevant, same information.

Plus, we have a little bit of extra for you.

Uh the Hope team was established in 2021 as the only dedicated outreach unit service in the unincorporated Washoe County area from Sun Valley, Spanish Springs, Cold Springs, Washoe Valley, Verde, Incline Village, and all the rural areas.

Our team includes me as Sergeant, Deputy Lesby, Deputy Smith, and two embedded case managers, Charles and Sandy from the Washoe County Human Services Agency.

Our mission is simple.

Build trust with unhoused individuals, connect them to services, and help them transition to stable housing with compassion and accountability.

We focus on proactive outreach, crisis intervention, mental health support, trauma-informed care, encampment management, and partnership with lasting change.

Okay.

These are just a few of our pictures of us out every day in the field, talking to people, providing resources, and cleaning up sites.

This is what compassionate public safety looks like.

Obviously, we have to be careful with pictures of the in-house that we show.

Okay.

These are numbers for 2025.

We have made contact with 2,930 individuals of 34% from 2024.

Of those, 2,728 resources were accepted.

And that's a jump of 94%.

We housed 194 individuals into permanent stable housing, up 35%.

We conducted 34 cleanups, removing 116.5 yards of debris.

Citations dropped dramatically to just five total, and arrests were only four, and those were mostly warrant arrests.

The key stack here is 93% of service accepted rate.

When we offer help with respect, people want it.

These numbers show growth, efficiency, and real results.

Okay.

None of this could happen alone.

Our embedded human services agency case managers are the backbone.

Handling follow-ups and tenancy support.

We partner closely with North Nevada Hopes for on-site behavioral health and medication assistant treatment.

We work hand in hand with the Sparks Police Hopes Department, uh, led by Sergeant Butler for weekly coordinated joint operations and shared intelligence, which makes us stronger regionally.

Our key partner includes BLM, Union Pacific, Reno Housing Authority, and some faith-based groups.

These collaborations turn short-term aid into long-term stability.

So these are our goals for 2026.

Um, I know they're ambitious, but I think we could do it.

We want to house 220 plus individuals into permanent supportive housing.

It's expanding prevention and re-entry referrals from the jails, hospitals, schools, and launch our Clean Path initiative, which I'll cover next.

We want to strengthen transportation through our new JTNN Uber Health Partnership and maintain 85 to 90% housing retention via tenancy support.

We're building on 2020 momentum with without overextending all of our resources.

So this is our exciting update.

We're actually starting this right after we leave this meeting.

This is our Clean Path initiative.

And what it is is this program engages rural encampments with hands-up approach.

We provide food, water, trash services, and extensive case management in exchange for clean sites and active pursuit of permanent housing.

It's about turning survival into stability while improving community safety and cleanliness.

And Deputy Lesby's gonna take over and explain it.

Okay, so why clean path?

So rural encampments create real challenges, safety hazards, illegal dumping, fire risks, environmental damage, and visible issues that impact tourism and community pride.

A 2023 National League of Cities study showed proactive programs can boost local tourism revenue by up to 15%.

The solution is addressing basic needs so people can focus on housing.

Models like Utah's housing first reduce chronic homelessness by 91% and saved about $8,000 per person annually in emergency services.

Clean Path adapts that here.

Compassionate, accountable, and cost effective.

Go ahead.

Okay, so uh participants get weekly no-cost support, water refills, seven-day nutritionally balanced food boxes, heavy-duty trash bags with pickup, intensive case management for IDs, benefits, housing apps, on-site behavioral health from Northern Nevada Hopes, and move and help, which includes our welcome home packages.

These packages provide essentials like household items, hygiene kits, furniture, and making a house feel like home.

They were or these rely entirely on community donations.

Expectations are straightforward and fair.

Keep the site free of visible trash since we provide the bags and the pickup.

Actively work toward permanent housing with case managers, check in weekly and avoid new ill illegal activity.

Participation is 100% voluntary, but commitment is key to continued support.

This builds responsibility and progress.

We use progressive accountability accountability, a verbal warning first, and then a seven-day notice with final supplies.

And if only needed a citation for illegal dumping.

Reenrollment is always possible.

And the goal is compliance and housing, not punishment.

This mirrors our overall approach.

Enforcement as a last resort after services.

So with that, we will start with.

I know this says that we're going to start eight to ten.

We are a team of three.

So we want to expand this, but with three of us doing all the work, it'll get there eventually.

So eight to ten participants in our rural areas, weekly dedicated routes using our Hope Vehicle.

And again, our goal is to house 100 to 120 annually.

It's scalable, low cost, high impact using existing team and donations.

We should we'll share quarterly metrics with commissioners and collaborate uh collaborative partners like everyone else here.

And then we actually just got our new app and a new public reporting tool on the Washoe County Sheriff's Office app at washoSheriff.com.

It will mirror our graffiti reporting system.

Um it's easy.

Direct submissions for encampments, unhoused individuals needing help or abandoned vehicles.

And the and the reports will go straight to the Hope team for compassionate immediate response and no more guessing on where to go, who to call.

And we often get asked, how can I help?

The best way is donating to our proven partners who make our welcome hope welcome home packages and our clean path packages complete.

Um Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada, St.

Vincent's Food Pantry, Salvation Army, Reno Sparks Gospel Mission, and the Katie Grace Foundation.

Your contributions provide uh furniture, household items, hygiene kits, and that turn housing into homes.

Our success depends on the community support.

And then this next slide here.

This is how you can download the app and our direct email is Sheriff Hope Team at watchcounty.gov.

And with that, I'll give this back to you.

Sorry.

And we'll take questions if you guys have any questions, comments.

I'm just kind of stunned at how impressive this is.

So you're just getting started.

We are headed in the right direction.

So we started in 2021, but it's just these last two years that we've been able to really launch because of HSA's involvement.

We're actually housing individuals.

So pretty exciting work that we're doing now.

I don't think a lot of people know that the sheriff's office is actually putting people into permanent housing.

Okay.

I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about this.

One question that rises to the top of my head.

Um, are you hooked in with the Larson Institute and the news the street reach program?

Are you guys?

Yes, so I've attended two meetings.

Um, that one's really exciting because there's so many different entities meeting up in one room to kind of get on the same page.

So that's just kind of launching, but I've been to two meetings and looking forward to the third.

So pretty exciting, all the different entities in that room.

Okay.

Well, I will be reaching out to learn more.

This is really exciting.

Thank you for the work that you guys have obviously conceptualized, and that the care that you are um taking to the individuals that are being most um cared for and affected by your work.

It's our pleasure.

Thank you, sir.

Sure.

Uh yeah, thank you for what you guys are doing.

Um, I think I got the pleasure to ride with our Sparks hope team, phenomenal work that everyone's doing.

Um, I mean, obviously, we all want to grow.

We want you guys to grow.

I would love to have 20 more in Sparks.

Um, but with that being said, uh like our uh kind of just for the public, like what kind of collaboration are you doing with like the Reno version of Hope Team, Sparks?

You're gonna kind of elaborate like you know, we said earlier, this is a regional.

Absolutely.

We would love to be all three entities on the same page.

I think we're getting there.

Um, the Sparks Hope sergeant and I get along very well.

We're on the same page.

We're looking for actually additional funding for HSA workers to help them so they can actually do what we do for tenancy support.

Um, so that is one thing we're kind of leaning on grants and looking for that funding to get you guys.

Um, and then Reno, we're working with them too also to kind of figure out um, they have a lot of different entities working toward the homeless and the clean path initiative and all our clean path.

Clean it safe.

Um, so we are in talks with all of them to try to kind of figure out how we can work together.

I appreciate thank you for what you guys do.

Well, I I admire your work.

I'm I'm wish that we had enough housing.

I know that that's really the issue.

Um, so I know we're gonna talk about that.

Um well, I want to talk about it on item 10 more about how we can leverage this board to to figure out how we get more housing because the state needs to support us.

We don't have the funding, and I know once you get folks housed, they are successful.

And that's really what we're working towards.

So thank you for your work and your passion.

Um, I uh was able to do a right along several lieutenants ago.

So I need to go back and um join y'all again and just appreciate also the support that you give our human uh our uh human services agency who are with you and support your casework.

And I know before we had sergeants using their iPhones for casework, you know, now you have an official um team that can really make sure that um we are getting that warm handoff and we're making sure that people are successful when we're helping them on their housing journey and it's not just enforcement.

Um the arrests, what had have you used the um uh the law that uh the county put into place on um uh I'm trying to think of the best language to use, but on those arrests, what what could you specifically call out what you have been using to arrest folks?

Because I think there's a misperception that we're arresting people because of homelessness and that um ordinance, although very difficult vote for me personally.

I feel like it was a tool for law enforcement.

But I wanted to hear, you know, what those arrests are for and how you use that ordinance and maybe if that ordinance is even needed at this point, it would be helpful just to take back to the county on that.

So we've actually only cited one person under that no camping um ordinance, and he is just one who just refuses resources, refuses to clean up his area.

We've tried and tried and tried again.

We've actually cleaned up the one individual four different on four different occasions.

Um so with that, again, we did not want to arrest on it.

We just cited him for it.

Um, and that was still when community court was a thing, and trying to implement and get that transferred from district court to community court was our issue there, um, in the sense of trying to get it to Reno Muni.

Um, with that, we were just trying to force resources on this individual just because he is still just refusing um and still making kind of a mess wherever he goes.

As far as arrest or arrests, have actually only been on warrants where we have had to arrest on a domestic violence warrant and in and any other villainy, excuse me, felony warrants that we come in contact with.

And so for that gentleman, where where is he now?

What's happening now?

Um, currently he's on private property in a very large and messy encampment.

Um, the private property owner, as of right now, has yet to reach back out to us.

So we've contacted him twice, just again trying to see if he's still uninterested in resources, but we are still making attempts just to try to keep him involved and keep him at least cleaning up.

But as of right now, he is still very against the system as he puts it.

Right.

So and for community court, what is what are we going to do now with that ordinance that the community court is no longer in existence?

So with that, our ordinance didn't get pushed down into community court anyways.

Um again, I think it's a tool, like you said, for law enforcement that we can cite on, you know, that ability to, or excuse me, the ability to cite on that when we do have individuals who are refusing resources so much so like this, and where we have cleaned him up three and four times.

You know, again, just accumulating more cost and making him, you know, either go into the court system and have judges appoint, you know, some type of community service or something like that, and ultimately we don't want it, but going into the jail system.

But if he does go into the into our jail, we have the detention services unit who works very close with us who can still get him into other resources, getting his ID, getting his social security, getting different benefits that he may need.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for your report.

I think uh as I memory serves me, you said you had uh arrested four people, but they were all warrants.

So these are folks that in the normal course of business, if you run into somebody who has a warrant and you you run their background, that's how that's how it was discovered.

It had little or nothing to do with just an encounter uh from you and where they were.

And so I guess the wrong place at the wrong time or the right time if you look at it from the other side standpoint.

But uh, so those weren't homeless arrests of any kind.

These were something that they'd already been in front of a judge, and the judge had had issued a warrant for their arrest, and then you just happen to bump into them.

Is that is that a correct statement?

Yes, sir.

Okay, very good.

Thank you.

We're going to move to uh item 10.

Board member announcements, reports, updates to include requests for future board agenda items.

Mr.

Chairman, yes.

I have something.

Sure.

I think this board needs if uh we are going to continue to meet.

I think we need to uh formulate some policies uh or some really resources that we need from the legislature.

We do not have the resources for permanent supportive housing.

Looking to the human services agency, I'm not sure if this is accurate, but don't we need like 1,100 more units today or more?

Like 1200, I mean, how many 11, 1200 units?

Okay.

Uh we have 200 units that we'll have on the CARES campus, uh permanent supportive housing.

We're barely touching the issue with that, and we know how expensive those units were to build because they need to be at like a assisted living type um uh uh resource because these folks who are were moving into these um housing units are disabled, have many special needs.

So um these are not cheap units to build.

Um, I know the city of Reno has put some online, bless you, uh, across the street um and through the uh VOA, but we're not even close where where we need to be.

I think this board needs to ask for resources from the legislature to build permanent supportive housing units.

If we want to be effective, if we want to show that the CARES campus is actually working, which honestly, I think it was the right thing for us to do, and we are helping people, and we have a resource on where to help people who need housing.

We must finish the job, which is through permanent supportive housing.

So I would like us to take to our boards that, and we are having a board meeting um tomorrow talking about legislative priorities that we need support from the state.

We are all running deficits, um, structural deficits.

Um, and we don't have the resources to get these units online.

Our uh developers um need public money and public um land to get these developments online.

We have some public land, the county does, and so do the cities.

So we could look at seeing how we could resource our public land, but we have got to get the funding.

And uh so that is something that I would like for us to bring back to our um boards and discuss how we need resources to really support people, meet them where they're at.

We know that the best practice is not just how many people we come into contact with, which I feel like that's all we're doing at this point.

The best thing to for us to do is to house people for us to be a real success.

So that's what I'd like to see for the future of this board.

Um this, I would like this board to look at these things, and then I'd like us to bring these to our um to our uh the city of Reno, the city of Sparks, and also Washoe County to look at um finding resources through the state because the state has put all of our communities in real trouble because we cannot afford the basic services of running our communities, and that includes permanent supportive housing for our most vulnerable people because we know 55% of the CARES campus are seniors.

These are people who have worked in our community who have not been able to save enough to actually live and honestly retire with dignity.

So we have got to do better, but we have got to ask the state for support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Garcia, excuse me, Rodriguez, Mr.

Card.

I think it's no.

Yeah.

Um, we definitely do need help from the state.

So I I I would support the board.

Um, again, as an alternate, but we support the board to look at the things for those uh potential opportunities.

Thank you.

Sanderson.

Yes, I would also like to request um a presentation at this level from the Larson Institute that is related to the School of Public Health at University of Nevada.

They're doing incredible work um with resources, services, and medical support um in this really critical area in um all three of our communities.

So that would be helpful.

Um, and then from legislative support, I definitely agree with you, Ms.

Hill, and I would also like to find how can we expand the hopes team, find more uh permanent supportive funding for the work that they are doing and the team that they need to expand.

And Mr.

Chairman, I'd also like this board to tackle the fact that we are supporting other counties because they do not have shelters, and the state must support Washoe County in those efforts because it's unacceptable that Fallon, Fernley, I'm trying to think of who else we know have sent folks who uh and uh from all over this region that we are supporting, and again, I agree with it.

I want to help these folks.

I think it's right that the care CARES campus doesn't say what's your zip code.

Do you live in Washoe County?

We need to help people that come to us, but it's unacceptable that the rest of this state has refused to actually tackle the issue of emergency shelters like we have, and we have led on this issue in Washoe County, and we are taking care of the rest of the state.

So I'd also like us to look at uh tackling that as a region because it is unacceptable that we have borne the brunt of the rest of the counties who are not actually dealing with their homeless issue the way that we have in Washoe County, which again I'm very proud of the work that we've done.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you.

I've uh been saying that uh for the last three years, the exact same thing.

It's you know, by definition, homeless or unhoused people don't have an address.

So when they're here in our county, they're residents of our county, and uh we need to take care of everyone who needs to be taken care of.

However, some of the other counties surrounding us may not have the resources to do that.

So the state needs to help us.

So again, I've been saying that for at least three years.

I'm glad you're on board.

It seems like you're moving the right way.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Also, uh, I'd like to uh hear the Larson uh group with their report as well.

So we'll we'll get trying to get that on the the agenda.

But um again, uh you know, this is uh as we said earlier, this is an advisory board.

So we'll you know we're not gonna be able to tell the state to do anything, but we can advise our respective boards to to ask the state to uh recognize this uh shortfall that we have here uh on that very same note.

You know, we need to look at acceptable ways and cost-saving ways to build uh some affordable housing.

Fish down in Carson City built a fabulous facility for folks to live in while they're going to school and uh and and just a brand new nice facility, a couple years old now.

They built that for about 275 dollars a foot.

Uh the CARES campus, some of the housing that we have on that is about $1,500 a square foot.

They had uh and and this is a direct quote from our foreman uh former chair on uh the the um um the uh BCC, uh Mr.

Harton.

Uh these are these are 320 square foot units costing about 480,000 apiece.

He mentioned that that costs more than his house out in Spanish Springs.

So, you know, let's figure out ways to help people, but let's not uh break the bank.

I don't think that many mansions up at Lake Tahoe cost $1,500 a square foot.

So that's a way that we can expand our housing if if we're gonna do that by doing something that's affordable housing and affordable to build the two uh things can go hand in hand.

So that's my comments and uh uh any public comment at this point in time.

Yes, we have Trisha Creedon followed by Pam Dar.

I wasn't prepared uh for right now, so I don't really have a lot to say, except that I've already said that to come at people aggressive is not helpful, and so please unarm the hope team.

If they're gonna be your first responders, get those freaking bulletproof bass houses on arm them.

There's no reason for sheriff's department to be coming at these people, none.

So there's no reason for that, let alone to uh expand on it.

Uh second, you say that you only have room for six members, two already don't want to be here.

There, that's solved.

Um your hope team keeps harassing that man, leave him the freaking alone, and um stop calling them NRPs, they are real people.

Um, and there's no time to build.

We have Seth.

People died.

93 people died last year.

We don't need any more things built.

We have things built.

Please and thank you.

Next up, Pam Darr, followed by Trista Gomez.

Hi, Pam Dar for the record.

Thanks one for being here and keeping this committee intact.

I appreciate it.

I was gonna ask for an app if we know had one, but I found it before when I got the information to report situations with the homeless, because I'm both in Reno and in Sparks.

When you see something, report it, because the sooner they can make contact and help them, the better.

The one more day on the street, some of them will be dead the next day.

We have very cold nights, even now with the warm weather during the day and drugs.

One more night in the streets could kill somebody on the drugs that go around on the streets these days.

I've ran across hot spots and sparks, and they're pretty good about staying on top of things.

And Reno, it sounds like they are now, but for a while, it was not pretty driving down Virginia Street.

Last time I drove down there, it looks like there's some improvement.

They are people.

My first husband chose that life not to be responsible.

I wanted the house on the picket fence.

So I you know, that's his choice.

But also it's our choice to feel unsafe in our community.

Um they need a purpose, but I guess he doesn't.

It's a hard thing to solve.

I do think, like with a contract to clean the shopping carts, if they take them, give them a job to clean them.

I mean, heck, I was working since I was young.

My dad had an appliance business.

I had to scrub used appliances.

You get out there, you work, and you feel a purpose.

Do something, some structure in life.

But I hate to see them on the streets and on drugs.

Going into one of the grocery stores on Virginia Street, I dodged a few people that were homeless with the sleeping bags, and it breaks my heart.

I know they feel that that's mean.

I don't want to be mean, but I feel for them.

I want them one time around, enjoy your life.

It's a hard thing.

For housing, they need to get off the drugs.

We want permanent housing, but if they're doing drugs, it's shown that they destroy the place and we got to remodel it again.

So there's got to be a place where they can help them.

A close person to me was told if you do a drugs another day, you're gonna be dead soon.

So she stopped.

That scared her.

I don't know.

I wish it was that easy with some people.

But getting off of drugs and bad choices, the solution.

Mental health is important.

But we spent a lot of money, and I don't see a lot of solutions at this point.

And a lot of money has been spent.

So I don't want to spend a lot of money and be back here saying it's no better.

But I did work at Hot August nights with people that found themselves on the street living in their car.

And they worked their tails off.

They were hard workers.

And another thing to look at is with legislature and the senators is ask if they're widowed and they've been married like five years or more.

Let them keep their husband's social security so they're not losing their apartment and they're sleeping in their car.

That's something you can do.

I think that's thank you.

Next up, Trista Gomez, followed by Danielle Aster Tatar.

Hi, my name's Trista Gomez.

And I just want to say our region has done a lot of work on homelessness, and we have one of the largest homeless camp resources almost in the country.

We have 630 beds in the in the CARES campus, and we have 38 spots in our place for families and women.

We have tried hard.

We have done a lot.

It's a new program.

It's a program that we I think has some bugs that have to be worked out.

And so I agree, it's this is a this is a national issue throughout the throughout the country, and this is something that has to be worked out.

But I also want to understand I also want to point out that these resources that we're putting towards this very large and extensive resource that is one of the largest in the country, also has other things that go with it.

Some of those are our operational and employee costs just for cares is right around 40 million dollars a year.

Our deficit in the county alone is about 27 million dollars a year.

So we the average rent throughout Nevada is 57%.

Some college students are paying up to 70% of their rent.

And so I agree that maybe we we need affordable housing, we need some permanent supportive housing, but we also have to make that just justifiable and have it have there be some equality amongst the population.

And if we're charging 30% for permanent supportive housing while our residents are paying 57 to 60 percent, that should be a consideration.

That could be another cost savings to the county and the city and the region.

There are the hopes.

I'm listening to the hopes.

I feel like wow, the hopes that is an amazing program.

We should be keeping them safe.

They are doing a phenomenal job.

They are helping people, they're bringing accountability, those are outcome-based measures.

Congratulations to them.

A program like that could be expanded, and that would be phenomenal.

And I think that we should look at something like that when we have these accountable outcome-based programs that have consistent financial accountability throughout the populations.

CARES has no residential requirement, it has no sobriety of requirement, and there's no length of stay minimum or maximum at the CARES campus.

It's gorgeous.

And the other part of that is the residents are sacrificing sometimes infrastructure and other safety services for this.

And so we need to make sure that these resources are just and fair throughout society for all of the residents.

Next up, Danielle Astier Titar, followed by Matt Wilkie.

Hello, and thank you for your service.

Um my name's Danielle Ozier Tater.

I've been a mental health provider in the northern Nevada area for over 32 years.

And I'm currently about to retire.

So that's why I'm here because I have more time now.

Uh, I wanted to just underscore what um Mike Clark and Alexis Hill said about going to the legislature to have more funding for housing.

I think that's you know, ultimately one of the major problems that we have, obviously.

Um, I also just wanted to comment that um my experience recently has been that many of my clients are having trouble retaining housing, not just um getting housing.

And um, I did recently try to assist a client to sustain their housing, and um there were no resources available to help with rent.

Um the monies were all gone, um, even though there are monies out there, so I would encourage also that when going to the legislature that perhaps we ask for money to sustain people's housing in emergency situations.

Um, and I also I'm back on another agenda item, but um I I really think it would be important perhaps to have mental health represented on this board.

Um, and so that might be a consideration when you're thinking about adding citizens to the board.

Thank you.

Next up, Matthew Wilkie, followed by Kelsey Owens.

Very good morning again, Chair and members of the board.

My name is Matthew Wilkie for the record.

Here to speak on a couple different things I heard during the meeting today.

Um I do fully agree on getting to a hold of the legislature on some BDRs.

Um, being a huge political nerd myself, I do know that each of your individual board boards only have like three BDRs that they are able to submit.

And I know that um in the process of last cycle with the BDRs, I know that um for the city of Reno, um, I think it's Nick Siccone, they tried so basically and then for the county, Ms.

Mateavich, they had so many BDRs that were presented to your individual boards, and only I think three are able to go there.

So my axe to ask the community is the people that are in this room that are also running for office, whether it's a Brian Wadsworth for accounting commission, um, Drew Rebar who left running for uh assembly, um the lady who just spoke before me, just forgot her name who's running for assembly.

Um, these people also will have BDRs that they are able, if they do get elected to submit to them as well.

So I would suggest getting hold of the people running for office, seeing if they are elected, if these are BDRs that they would be willing to place, because these municipalities on their own only have like three.

Um, and I do know that the individuals, the first time elected, I believe it's three.

If you're an elect a reelected member of the assembly, you can I believe it's six or eight.

So the assembly members have way higher chances of getting BDRs inputted than these uh government entities.

So that's something I want to point out as well is get a hold of your elected and prospected elected officials.

Also, even though he candidate Josh A.

Bear running for CD2s here, get a hold of these people that are running, see if they're willing to make homelessness a part of their base for their re-election and election campaigns.

Thank you.

Next up, Kelsey Owens.

Um it hurt to just hear someone call CARES campus the most amazing campus in the nation or something along those lines, because I'm gonna tell you a little story from a friend recently who told me when she went there with her husband, they were forced to split up and they were not allowed to share a cot for security and safety reasons.

However, the security and safety was so lax that while she was divided from her husband, three strange men were able to try and come and climb in her cot with her at night.

That is the kind of thing that happens at these places.

So let's call it what it is, please.

Secondly, another commenter had just said to please hurry and call the cops whenever you see something, because many of those people won't survive the night.

Well, what are we to learn from the execution of our neighbor, Michael Johnson, just last month?

A concerned citizen called the cops for him, thinking they were do the right thing, and he was lynched.

Something to think about.

I'd like to call for a moment of silence from Michael J.

Johnson Jr., who can't be here.

Thank you.

We have no more comments signed in.

With that, we'll adjourn the meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you for attending today.

Thank you.