Supervisors to consider homeless plan funding

The Carson City Board of Supervisors will consider how best to spend federal dollars to assist homeless people in the community during their Thursday meeting, which begins at 8:30 a.m., in the community center.

On the table are $1.16 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to support the Carson City Housing Plan, which supervisors implemented last year through a competitive bid process. A review work group spearheading the initiative received six applications for project funding and is recommending allocating a total of $445,777 to four of the six applicants.

A memo by Carson City Grants Administrator Mirjana Gavric breaks down each application. The Ron Wood Family Resource Center requested $16,127, which the review group recommended be awarded. The Ron Wood program would focus on procuring documents for homeless individuals and families, such as birth certificates and driver’s licenses.

Nights Off The Street Inc., requested $148,770 to provide a full-time manager for their overnight shelter, which runs from November through March. The review group recommended full funding.

“N.O.T.S. is a temporary overnight shelter that is supported by 12 local churches and hundreds of volunteers,” says Gavric’s memo.

St. Teresa of Avila Conferences/Saint de Paul Society asked for $57,500 to provide one-way transportation to help reunite homeless individuals with family members who have agreed to provide shelter. This program also received a recommendation of full funding.

“Estimated number of individuals to be reunited per year is 115,” says the memo.

Last is the Carson City Community Counseling Center. The organization requested $446,760, but the housing plan review group recommended only $223,380 be awarded. Community Counseling Center wants to include 12 individuals a year in the counseling program, which provides housing for 180 days, mental health services, referrals, transportation and life skills.

“The ARWG (application review work group) is recommending partial funding due to the large cost associated with the program,” says the memo. “The ARWG is supporting the first year of the program and requesting that Community Counseling staff prepare and present a progress report in December 2023 for the ARWG.”

Designed to help homeless people transition to independent living, the Carson City Housing Plan brought community members together from different organizations, including Carson City Health and Human Services, Carson City Leadership, Carson City Community Development, Carson Tahoe Regional Healthcare and Friends In Service Helping.

According to CCHHS, there were 69 unsheltered individuals in the capital city during an official count in February 2022, though that number could be higher.

Supervisors will also consider what to do with the remaining $714,637 of ARPA funding.

In other action:

• Supervisors will consider appropriating $500,000 from the Ambulance Fund and reallocating $2.4 million in ARPA funding to cover a shortfall for a proposed fire station that would include an emergency operation center, backup dispatch station and information technology offices.

“Initial cost estimates for the project were completed in early 2022 and calculated using an estimate of $650 per square foot; however, based on current economic conditions, cost estimates have increased to approximately $900 per square foot,” reads a staff summary. “This has created an estimated project shortfall of $2.9 million.”

The project is proposed for a site on Butti Way between Fairview Drive and the Public Works corporate yard. Besides the funding request, supervisors will consider amending a contract for TSK Architects to perform the second phase of design.

According to a staff summary, TSK completed the first phase for programming and concept design for $48,800. The second phase for schematic design and construction services administration would cost roughly $1 million.

• Supervisors will weigh changing the zoning of the old Carson Tahoe Hospital site at 775 Fleischmann Way.

Buildings on the property are still used as medical facilities but are no longer publicly owned.

In December, planning commissioners recommend changing the zoning from public regional to residential office as part of the annual Master Plan review.

“The proposed amendment will provide better neighborhood compatibility but will result in a non-conforming use for the existing on-site use,” says a staff summary.