Reno Is Beating the Odds in Solving Homelessness
www.wsj.com
The number of unsheltered dropped by more than half in this Nevada city after a large tent to house its homeless was built.

Number of unsheltered dropped by more than half in this Nevada city after large tent to house its homeless was built

The “Biggest Little City in the World” is earning a new distinction: one of the few cities in the West to get large numbers of homeless off its streets.

The city teamed with Sparks, a neighboring city, and surrounding Washoe County to build a Nevada Cares Campus in 2021 that could accommodate more than 600 people in a giant tent and satellite sleeping pods. Since that year, the number of homeless living on the street has plummeted to 329 this year from 780, according to annual point-in-time counts.

The 58% drop is striking when compared with many other Western cities which have seen their unsheltered homeless populations grow or stagnate since the pandemic, amid soaring drug addiction and a federal appeals-court order that prevents cities in the region from clearing streets without providing enough beds. California has spent about $20 billion over the last five years to combat the problem, yet still has half the nation’s unsheltered homeless. 

Once people are off the street and in the tent, the other part of Reno’s approach kicks in: helping them find a job, access other services and move them into permanent housing. Other cities are taking notice.

    • bluGill@kbin.social
      2·
      1 year ago

      Some people do not deserve help. Some people continuously make bad decision. I’ve seen such people turn their life around - but only after every friend gave up giving them free beds and meals. These people got straight A’s in school until they figured out they could cheat society to get everything for nothing.

      The problem is that is a tiny minority of homeless. Most homeless either are trying but things are set against them, or don’t have the ability to fix their problems. Bay area housing is horribly expensive, and so there are a lot of homeless who would like to have a house but they can’t afford anything on the income they can earn (long term the solution is fix zoning so cheap housing can be built, but best case this is 20 years to make a difference). There are a lot of disabled people who cannot work a good job - often the disability is mental, and thus they will never be able get a good job and support themselves.

      How do we turn the “folks standing around in a welfare line” conversations to reminding people that those exist but are a minority and most homeless have problems that we should help them with? don’t attack the message of lazy people - it is a real issue, just reminding people that we are looking at those who are not lazy.

      • ivanafterall@kbin.social
        1·
        1 year ago

        If they are homeless, then how are they “cheating society to get everything for nothing?”

        Getting straight A’s in school doesn’t preclude someone from having a mental health crisis, financial disaster, etc…

        If one must have a spotless record to be eligible for help, it might defeat the purpose.

        How lofty a view must you have of yourself that you should determine who is deserving of help surviving?

        • bluGill@kbin.social
          1·
          1 year ago

          They are living for free with someone else, eating their food. Or.they are abusing welfare to have a house even though they could hold a job. Once all such programs stop supporting their lazy ways they get a job and prove they can work.

          There are a lot of people deserving if help because they are unable to help themselves. However I have personally known a number who are pretending to need help so they can be lazy. Telling the difference is easy in practice, but hard to write down formally.