Carson City Supervisors OK three homeless projects, then remove remaining $938,000 from Housing Plan Fund

Carson City Supervisors approved American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to three Carson City non-profit projects on Thursday, helping transition individuals experiencing homelessness into permanent shelter.

Funding comes from the remaining $1.16 million ARPA funds provided by the federal government in 2021 and approved by supervisors to be used for projects or programs that support the Carson City Housing Plan.

After approving three proposed projects, the Board then voted to remove the remaining $938,000 from the Housing Plan into an Undesignated Fund. Discussions prior talked about the importance of using these funds for projects such as the East William Street Project and the construction of a new fire station and emergency management operations center.

Of the initial $1.3 million set aside for the Housing Plan using ARPA funds, only $431,483 will be used for Housing Plan projects. Supervisor Stacey Giomi also stated that approximately $2.5 million in ARPA funding has already been allocated to roads projects to date.

In November 2021, $209,586 of the $1.3 million awarded to Carson City was dispersed to five non-profit agencies in the city, and the remaining funds were put aside for a second round of applications during 2023 to be used in the Housing Plan.

In September 2022, the board issued a call for applications for funding allocations of the remaining $445,777 in left over funding, and staff recommended the approval of four out of six applications.

Those applying for the grants included Nights Off the Streets (NOTS), the Ron Wood Center, Community Counseling Center and more.

The projects are as follows:

Project: Carson City Homeless Services
Agency: Ron Wood Family Resource Center
Funding request: $16,127 to connect individuals experiencing homelessness with case management and the retrieval of documents such as birth certificates, ID cards, Driver’s licenses, and any other documents as needed.

Project: Connecting Carson City’s Homeless
Agency: Nights Off the Street (NOTS)
Funding Request: $148,770 to provide a full-time center manager for their overnight shelter which runs November through March each year. The manager will work with the city and non-profits to complete an assessment on each guest and direct them to the services they need.

Project: Reunification Program for Unsheltered Homeless
Agency: Saint Teresa of Avila Conferences, Saint Vincent de Paul Society
Funding Request: $57,500 to provide one-way transportation and other miscellaneous costs to allow for homeless individuals to be reunited with their family and/or relatives who have agreed to provide shelter and a supportive environment. The estimated number of individuals to be reunited per year is 115.

Supervisors, however, declined one of the recommended agencies.

Project: The Coronet Project
Agency: Carson City Community Counseling Center
Funding request: $446,760 to implement a program that identifies 12 individuals per year who wish to enter the CCC program. CCC will provide temporary housing for up to 180 days along with mental health services, referrals, transportation to other services and education on “appropriate and safe behavior skills.” The goal is to transition each individual to permanent housing after the program is complete. Staff is recommending partial funding in the amount of $223,380 due to the cost associated with the program. Staff recommends supporting the first year of the program and requests CCC staff prepare and present a progress report in Dec. 2023 for additional funding based on their progress.

Staff did not recommend the following projects for funding:

Project: Carson City Homeless Service
Agency: Spirit of Hope Inc.
Funding Request: $238,620 for startup costs for two additional group homes housing 12 homeless individuals, 6 per home, along with staffing costs to manage the homes.

Staff did not recommend funding for the project due to the fact that the program collects rent from tenants through social security or other forms of rents. According to staff, Spirit of Hope does not provide housing if tenants are unable to provide rent, which does not see the city’s intended method of addressing unsheltered people.

Project: Homeless Outreach and Housing
Agency: Karma Box Project
Funding request: $1.2 million for a Street Outreach program for Carson City, working in conjunction with CCHHS to connect homeless individuals to services and temporary housing.

Staff is not recommending funding based on a lack of information provided in both the application and presentation, including information on the organization and goals would be accomplished. The application also was missing information on methods of accomplishment, data, a sustainment plan, coordination with other agencies, and details on budget justification.

Board Discussions

Supervisor Stacey Giomi applauded the agencies and non-profits for their dedication to helping those experiencing homelessness.

Giomi went on to say that of all the agencies, NOTS most likely has the best handle on how many individuals are living without shelter in Carson City.

“One of the most important aspects of this is trying to get a handle on the problem in a way that’s less esoteric than our once-in-a-year counts, because frankly it’s ridiculous to try and use that number to solve a problem when it’s a point in time count,” Giomi said. “There’s value in it, but the reality is we need data.”

Additionally, Giomi stated he would find the most value in funding NOTS, Ron Wood and Saint Vincent de Paul.

Supervisor Maurice White stated that while individuals in the community who are experiencing homelessness do need help, he would rather see funding go toward project such as the William Street project and the new fire station.

“While I’m not opposed to these programs, I think we have a much more important set of projects in front of us that we do not know today that we can afford,” White said.

Mayor Lori Bagwell said that while looking at Community Counseling, the most exciting aspect of their application was the ability to provide wrap-around services, not only housing but mental health assessments and other treatment services.

However, Bagwell said she had questions on how the program and timeline would work with the CCC program, but CCC representatives did not attend the meeting to answer her concerns.

Supervisor Lisa Schuette said that she was concerned with overlap, and would like to see some non-profits come together to determine what services are needed and what services are overlapping each other.

“We are so lucky that we have really good non-profits in this community that do a really good job with wraparound services and I appreciate what Community Counseling Center has included in their proposal but what I’m concerned with is some of the overlap with other non-profits that provide wraparound,” Schuette said.

Schuette said that the Ron Wood program assisting with providing documentation is hugely important for both individuals and the community as a whole.

“It’s easy to say ‘well they can just get a job, there’s so many jobs — they can’t,” Schuette said. “You have to have the correct paperwork, you have to have a way to get to work, you have to have an opportunity to clean and take care of yourself in that regard. That’s where this is getting really complicated because we want these people to be independent but they can’t do it alone. They don’t have bootstraps to pull up.”

Supervisor Curt Horton said the new fire station and emergency dispatch center is imperative, and he would agree with allocating more ARPA funding towards that project.

The Board determined to allocate project funding to the Ron Wood Center, NOTS and Saint Vincent de Paul.

The board also voted to remove the remaining $938,017 in ARPA funds from the Housing Plan to an Undesignated Fund.