The Associated Press

Tue, Oct 7, 2008 (11:45 a.m.)

City officials have ordered homeless men to move out of a tent city on the edge of downtown Reno. By next week, all women must also vacate the encampment where as many as 160 people have lived since the beginning of summer.

City officials say the evictions coincide with the scheduled opening later this month of two new homeless-services facilities nearby.

Reno police, the city manager's office, Community Resource Division and Public Works Department decided a two months ago to make the change before the Oct. 15 opening of the women's drop-in center and family resource center.

Some of the women, who will have to leave the tent city when it closes next Wednesday, expressed frustration about being separated from husbands and boyfriends.

"I’m not sleeping apart from my husband," said Kim Kidd, 36, a 22-year resident of Reno. "That’s the only support I’ve got right now."

Kidd said she and her husband will be staying at a friend’s home now that men cannot stay in the encampment unless they are in a relationship with a pregnant mother.

Jodi Royal-Goodwin, Reno community reinvestment manager, said the 90 men and about 20 women who left the tent city had found places to go.

Tent city residents were interviewed to determine where they could go, including weekly motels, staying with friends, shelter beds or housing assistance.

"Everybody had a place to go for shelter," Royal-Goodwin said. "We tried to help everyone so they wouldn’t be displaced by the closing of the tent area."

The men’s shelter opened Monday with 60 beds, Royal-Goodwin said.

Kari Hartman said she and Donald Morey, her boyfriend of seven years, have camped in the snow during previous years to avoid being separated.

"They need to help couples stay together rather than just help the men," said Hartman, 44. "We don’t feel safe with them taking them away from us."

Royal-Goodwin said shelters nationwide usually don’t accommodate childless couples.

"My guess is that, for sheer economy, there are more homeless single men and women and it’s more cost effective to provide services to them than to create a separate shelter for couples," Royal-Goodwin said.

The emergency overflow encampment which has sanitation, fencing, additional police patrols, lighting, security cameras and security guards will remain open eight more days until the women can be moved into the new facilities.

"Maybe they do feel vulnerable, but nothing is changing in terms of what we’re providing," Reno fund development manager Maureen McKissick said.

Deputy Police Chief Steve Pitts said the International RAM Associates security firm has been hired.

"They’re going to be much more visible, and they’re going to cover more hours in a 24-hour period," Pitts said. "The city will provide training (to International RAM Associates) that we feel is important for the CAC campus and the potential challenges they face providing security there."

The campus at Fourth and Record streets includes the Men’s Drop-In Center, Saint Vincent’s Dining Room, Catholic Community Services Network and the new women’s drop-in center and family resource center. As many as 800 people a day are expected.

Some men expressed concerns about difficulties juggling work and signing up daily for a bed between the hours of 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the cold weather shelter. Matthew Baclayon, 36, a Sparks High School graduate, has a three-day a week job as a sign-waver for the Mervyns Closeout Sale. He said he worries that the check-in times would force him to sleep on the streets or do without a job.

"My job doesn’t pay me enough to get a hotel room, but I’m not here in time to get a place to sleep, so I’m still on the street," Baclayon said. "If you want to maintain a job, it makes it impossible."

Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission Executive Director Rick Redding said the men only need to inform the RSGM staff of their situation, and they try to accommodate them. If there are spaces available, Redding said men can ride on a van to the shelter’s location at 85 Edison Way until 7 p.m.

"Some guys have let us know that they work; we will automatically sign them up. They just need to let us know," Redding said. "We’re here to help them, not turn them away."

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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com