FISH, Bridge launching pilot program to help homeless

Friends in Service Helping is working to launch a pilot program with the Bridge Church that would use one of its existing housing units to provide mental health services and addiction treatment to homeless individuals.

After two recent meetings with city officials, FISH’s Executive Director Jim Peckham and Bridge Senior Pastor Randy Roser determined the objective is to improve results for people challenged by “life stress,” Roser said.

Both insisted FISH is not closing its emergency or transitional shelters in Carson City. The focus instead is to develop services and collect data that would further justify expansion of housing options.

“We’ve got a number of different shelters and we’re trying to figure out how to improve the outcomes for folks and trying to figure out how to address some of the mental health and addiction issues,” Peckham said. “We’re not closing any shelters.”

Meetings about the new program and services took place within the last month and generated interest about working with the Carson City Sheriff’s Office, the court system and local providers. The goal is to build a better model for clients to keep them stable, job-ready and based on ministries typically seen in larger urban cities but scaled to rural populations, Peckham and Roser told the Appeal.

The Bridge, which runs a ministry serving people impacted by various forms of addiction, depression or abuse, said about 80 to 90% of its population are affected by drugs or alcohol. Church members or volunteers see anywhere from two dozen to about 30 individuals in need of assistance daily, he said. Many have been arrested, walked away from a rehabilitation facility or choose to live on the streets.

“We’re just trying to figure out how to do something in that realm of helping people and placing efforts on helping them get over their addictions,” Peckham said.

The meetings that involved city officials and department heads such as Mayor Lori Bagwell, Sheriff Ken Furlong, Carson City Health and Human Services Director Niki Aaker and others were to understand the groups’ vision for the program. Furlong asked how to measure the impact of how lives were being changed once they left an emergency or transitional shelter.

He also noted some of the challenges he runs against in enforcement. Frustrations run high among community members who mistakenly believe he has authority to arrest the homeless after they leave a facility, he said.

“You’ve got to have a place for these people to go,” he said. “People’s lives are in danger sitting on the streets. The day of one of the two meetings I attended … we found a homeless guy dead on the streets. … And they just don’t want to be bothered. It’s problematic for us.”

Furlong said in Carson, the most problematic areas to enforce are North Carson Street and the area reaching from the Smith’s shopping center to Mills Park.

“The Bridge did ask if the sheriff’s department would be willing to pick up anybody who left the shelter, and I told them I can’t,” Furlong said. “I can’t pick up people who have left the facility. There’s no crime in that. … I said there’s no way I’m going to go running around arresting people for walking around the Bridge. It’s just a huge challenge.”

Roser said for most who are attempting to clean up their lives, it’s a choice and the ministry assists in small steps. Volunteers help men and women gradually toward sobriety or away from addictive habits and to make a “life-changing decision,” he said.

“We see a percentage and we build relationships and they trust,” he said.

The Bridge has launched a website, bridge320.com, that describes its residential community ministry.

Peckham said for FISH’s part, it will help the individuals develop job skills and find gainful employment and long-term sustainability.

“That’s what we’re trying to do,” Peckham said. “It’s, how do we rethink this and get people situated? And we’ve helped hundreds of people, and those that are able to get housing because they have a clean record and haven’t fallen victim to drugs and alcohol and are making payments to do what the government’s making them do.

“So let’s get them on a roll,” he said. “Let’s get them on a more long-term path.”