Carson City Health discusses new program aimed at sheltering homeless individuals in the capital city

On Thursday, a presentation was held at the Carson City Community Center during the Board of Supervisors / Board of Health meeting regarding how to tackle current homeless issues in Carson City.

The program has one goal: turn the unsheltered into sheltered.

The basis for the program is “Survive, Stabilize, Thrive.”

Currently, the cost of homelessness to a community is estimated from between $40,000 to $60,000 per person each year, according to the program presentation.

“This is a problem that will continue to grow,” said Mary Jane Ostrander, who led the discussion. “It’s not gonna go away, unless we do something. It will continue building and increasing our costs — whether it’s sheriff’s office, medical, hospitals, behavioral health, fire department, social services — it’s endless. Unless we address it, those costs will keep increasing.”

Potential projects to help alleviate homelessness in Carson City involve leasing housing to provide group living, or purchasing a property to create a 20-module shelter.

Following the presentation, Mayor Bagwell noted that in Carson City, group living has already been around for many years with programs such as Spirit of Hope.

“My phone doesn’t ring off the hook from the neighbors there’s a problem,” said Bagwell. “Sometimes I’ll stand outside (the group homes) for an hour just to watch. They actually stick to the rules — they’re taught you have to do the laundry, you have to pull the weeds. They tend to be well cared for homes. I’m hopeful it will not impact the neighborhoods.”

“The homeless issue we have in Carson City is not just a Carson City issue,” said Supervisor Stacey Giomi. “We have the only regional hospital, we have the (majority of) nursing homes, we have state agencies. The other counties have a responsibility to help us in this regard.”

“This presentation highlights the difficulties of getting back on one’s feet — something as simple as not having an ID, or an eviction (outside of one’s control), and then you’re not eligible for housing,” said Supervisor Lisa Schuette. “There are so many reasons why people find themselves homeless. This spotlights how that collaborative wrap around services can really help get folks back on their feet.”

Carson City Health and Human Services Director Nikki Aaker stated that, while some individuals who are against the proposed program stated they did not want to “encourage more homeless to come,” Aaker stated that some of the best feedback they’ve received about the program came from a formerly homeless individual, who said that having a program that involves work will encourage people who want help.

“Some of the feedback we got from someone who was homeless is, the best thing we can do is (create a program) that when people come to Carson City, they need to have a plan, they need to be doing some work around Carson City,” said Aaker. “Well, that word gets out, and those individuals (will come) that will take part in the program and we can help them and use all of our service agencies. It’ll be the ones who want to help themselves and be held accountable.”

The Board of Health voted to approve the presentation and move forward in finding funding sources for the program, with Supervisor White voting against.

Survive

The main goal of the project is simple: Unsheltered to Sheltered.

Mary Jane Ostrander presented the program details, which begins with the concept of survive, which boils down to meeting people where they are with a Street Outreach Team.

“If you wanna be homeless in Carson, you’ve gotta have a plan, and you’ve gotta work towards it,” said Ostrander.

Ostrander also stated that some of the population of unsheltered individuals in Nevada are transitional.

“A lot of our homeless that are here, during the Fall, they start migrating down to Las Vegas where it’s warmer,” said Ostrander.

But Nevada is one of the few states that maintains a database throughout the entire state, which is helpful when it comes to keeping track of specific individuals who are unsheltered.

Street outreach program will be full-time, 7 days a week, with an implementation timeline of 2-3 months.

The program will be possibly funded through the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), Indigent Accident Fund, and American Rescue Plan funds, and more.

Costs are projected between $67,000 to $88,000.

The street outreach team will potentially consist of previously homeless individuals, a management team leader, volunteer advocates, and veteran volunteers.

Stabilize

• Phase One

Develop a Housing First Model, which means providing housing without a lot of qualifications ahead of time, which is prohibitive to many unsheltered individuals, such as being sober for six months beforehand, like other programs.

“Once you have a roof over your head, that’s when you can start getting things lined up,” said Ostrander.

At the same time, case management services will be provided, including behavioral health (such as mental health, substance abuse, crisis intervention and more), physical health, life skills, and transportation.

• Phase Two

-Group Living Housing-

Phase two includes providing short term Group Living Housing.

Finding housing for unsheltered individuals is the biggest barrier to providing them help, said Ostrander.

“And with a lack of housing, (property managers) have the pick of the litter,” said Ostrander.

Offered housing would comprise of group living with 24-hour supervision, and would involve “teaching them how to live indoors again.”

“It may sound funny but it’s true,” said Ostrander. “Some of these people have been on the streets for 9, 10, 15 years. Teaching them about leases, helping them obtain important documents — this is what property managements want. It’s helping to prepare them.”

In the two phases, especially in street outreach, would include giving back to the community by cleaning up camps, or having unsheltered clients help clean up trash.

“We had a gentleman, and as we talked about earlier today, it’s really hard to find seasonal workers for Parks and Rec. (There is a) lack of people to pull weeds. He started pulling the weeds for us. Can I pay him? No, but I can give him a gift card in appreciation.”

After three weeks of pulling weeds, Ostrander said, the man was offered a position working for a landscaping company, and has been employed now for two weeks.

“That’s our goal. That’s what we want to do.”

Supervisor Giomi emphasized how big of an issue not having documents is for unsheltered individuals.

“There are people who want to get out (of the homeless cycle), who want to get medical treatment, but they’ve lost their social security card or their birth certificate, and you can’t get medical care without your ID. Even if you’re a veteran — there are a lot of homeless vets who have lost their documentation, and they don’t have the wherewithal to get that back without some assistance.”

“You can’t get a job without a social security card,” added Giomi.

The projected costs associated with Phase Two housing include two homes which are staffed 24/7 for $600,000 a year, with funding accessible through the indigent accident fund, American Rescue Plan funding, and, once implemented, sheltering grants.

“HUD is looking at transitional housing and group housing, which is brand new,” said Ostrander.

Ostrander stated they were hoping to get Phase Two started within the next 3-6 months.

The next steps would include locate and lease housing units and furnish and prepare the homes for occupancy.

-Modular Shelter-

Another model could include Modular Sheltering, which could include dormitory-style housing to individual units.

Under this model, a minimum of 20 units is proposed, with a minimum 8 x 8 bedroom, with electricity to each unit with solar panel options, along with bathroom and shower facilities and a community room/flex space provided.

Modular shelters would have a 180-day maximum stay, with case management services provided.

Projected costs are estimated at $200,000 for shelter purchases, and $300,000 per year after for operations.

Potential funding sources include Indigent Accident Fund and American Rescue Plan funds.

Thrive

The third phase involves moving previously unsheltered individuals from transitional into permanent, independent housing.

Assistance such as financial literacy, transportation, job applications, setting up a primary care physician, security deposit assistance and more are involved in this phase.

“One of our homeless advocates that was instrumental in putting this plan together, he truly believes — and he’s worked in other communities — that it’s fixable right now,” said Ostrander. “If you don’t do anything, it is not going to be fixable.”

The entire presentation, and staff report, can be found at this link.