Washoe County Has Created a Homelessness Industry
A report we were forwarded from within the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department.
At what point does compassion turn into a blank check?
Washoe County taxpayers are pouring astronomical sums into the Nevada Cares Campus, the county’s sprawling answer to homelessness — and yet, despite the millions spent, the problem on the streets isn’t getting smaller. It’s multiplying.
Washoe County government is being tight-lipped about the departure of Dana Searcy who ran the Nevada Cares Campus for the county under the direction of Interim County Manager Kate Thomas and former County Manager Eric Brown.
Washoe County Sheriff’s Office HOPE Team, led by Sergeant Sonia Butler. Her report paints a clear picture: a small team of two deputies and two case managers reached 2,182 individuals last year, connected 1,404 to services, and helped 144 transition into stable housing. This year, they’ve already placed 137 people in apartments — real results, real impact, and a fraction of the Cares Campus budget.
But here’s the catch: taxpayers are also footing the bill for the WCSO Hope tea, for the Sparks HOPE Team, and Reno’s Downtown Reno Partnership’s Ambassadors, and countless other outreach programs — all doing versions of the same job, you know, helping the homeless.
So why are we still paying for the Cares Campus to the tune of tens of millions when so many unhoused individuals refuse to go there — preferring the streets, riverbanks, or encampments instead? If additional teams are taxpayer funded just to “round up” people who won’t use the service Washoe County built, maybe it’s time to admit the model isn’t working.
Washoe County has created a homelessness industry — one where success seems measured by spending, not solutions. The more the problem persists, the more programs pop up to “fix” it, each with its own staff, slogans, and slice of taxpayer pie.
So when is the cost too much?
Maybe it’s when the number of outreach teams starts to outnumber the people they actually help.