Truckee has a homeless problem.

It’s not that Truckee has too many homeless. Around 87 households in Truckee/North Tahoe use homeless services every year, according to a study released in January, roughly equally divided between the two areas. This is a number that Cathie Foley, the program director for North Tahoe-Truckee Homeless Services, calls “manageable.”

However, a new regional homeless action plan expects that number to increase by 13% annually, attributed in part to the high cost of housing in our region. This estimate also reflects a state-wide trend.

The real problem is that this comes at a time when the region’s homeless services are decreasing, not increasing. Last August, Truckee’s Emergency Day Center, which had been operated by North Tahoe-Truckee Homeless Services for 8 years, lost its location at the Church of the Mountains after its lease was not renewed (the building is being remodeled). Then, Hope Ridge House, a proposed supportive housing project in Truckee that would have housed five homeless or those on the verge of homelessness, plus an on-site manager, was canceled by Nevada County after strong opposition from neighbors arose.

There is an emergency warming center, now run by Nevada County, that operates 6 months of the year in Truckee’s Joseph Government Center, but only when temperatures are 15 degrees or less, 1 foot of snow or more is predicted overnight, or during other severe weather conditions. But Foley said that the warming center is open too infrequently to provide a dependable option for the homeless.

“When you have people who are in crisis and you tell them, ‘I’m not sure if it’s going to open tonight, looks like it might be 22, we’ll let you know,’ you’re not giving somebody the ability to say, ‘This is where I can be tonight,’” she said.

That leaves the region with very little help for its homeless population. Currently, NTTHS is serving meals to homeless out of the back of the courthouse 4 days a week, two hours a day. And the Town of Truckee, via the police, can provide hotel vouchers to homeless as a stop-gap safety measure, especially in winter.

“That’s it … There’s really nothing,” Foley said. “There is no place that people are welcomed. They are just surviving.”

With the loss of so many programs for the homeless in our area, what are Truckee and Eastern Placer County doing now, or intend to do, for their homeless populations? A new committee made up of members from both areas worked 18 months to come up with a report and a plan, but the failure of the supportive housing project in Truckee has left government officials and homeless experts determined to come up with solutions while also wondering — is the community ready to do its part? 

A Plan for the Homeless

Various entities in Tahoe/Truckee, such as Nevada and Placer counties, Sierra Community House, and NTTHS, have been providing homelessness services for more than 20 years. However, as the number of unhoused individuals grew in the region over the past 5 years, there was a realization that a more coordinated effort was needed, and thus the Tahoe Truckee Homeless Advisory Committee was formed in 2023. The group consists of officials from the Town of Truckee, both counties, Tahoe Forest Hospital, and organizations that serve the homeless.

For 18 months, the committee worked on developing the Tahoe Truckee Regional Homeless Action Plan, with the goal of ending homelessness in the region over the next 5 years.

That’s what healthy, strong communities do — they make local support networks for people who are less fortunate than themselves.”

~ Hardy Bullock, Nevada County Supervisor

Out of the 87 households that use homeless services in the region, plus another 30 households that needed housing for domestic violence reasons, 39 were marked as experiencing chronic homelessness. Another way homeless are identified is through a Department of Housing and Urban Development Point in Time Count, which represents a count of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night. That number in Tahoe/Truckee more than doubled in 2023 to 92 before coming back down to 52 last year. (In 2018, it was at 36.)

Truckee Mayor Jan Zabriskie is the co-chair of the Tahoe Truckee Homeless Advisory Committee. He noted that North Tahoe-Truckee Homeless Services has found that 50% of homeless households have lived here for more than 5 years.

“Many of these people grew up here or have lived here a long time,” he said. “They have either been priced out or are living on the edge and encountered a hospital bill or car repair bill or evictions to make room for short-term rentals or renovation, and they couldn’t find affordable housing.”

Some of the plan’s key goals include the provision of 22 year-round shelter beds; filling the need of 44 permanent supportive housing beds (Pacific Crest Commons will provide 10 units of permanent supportive housing on the site of the former CHP building in Truckee); and raising $1 million over the next 5 years for homeless services.

Supportive Housing Success: Brown Bear Studios

Permanent supportive housing is subsidized housing coupled with case management services for those experiencing chronic homelessness, who often suffer from a disabling condition. In addition to humane reasons, there is also financial incentive to house the unhoused — a homeless services consulting firm found that the community cost of continued homelessness in our region is $3 million annually for emergency and critical services.

Zabriskie points out evidence from South Lake Tahoe that shows complaints to the police about the homeless drastically declined after supportive housing opened there, and Barton Memorial Hospital experienced a reduction in emergency room visits by the homeless.

The North Shore already has a supportive housing facility — Brown Bear Studios in Kings Beach, which opened in December on the site of the former 7 Pines Motel. It has 14 units, including one for an on-site manager. The housing is not free; the tenants, who all experienced long-term homelessness on the North Shore, pay 30% of their income, whether that be from social security, disability payments, or a job.

According to Jazmin Breaux, health and human services program manager for both Nevada and Placer counties and a member of the advisory committee, there have been no issues with the tenants and no evictions. Brown Bear Studios is 100% occupied.

“They have the right for this to be their forever home if that’s what they want,” she said. “It’s not time limited, it’s not contingent on anything except for following the rules and the guidelines and the lease like any other tenant would be expected to.”

Placer County purchased and renovated the building at a cost of $1.45 million using a combination of grants, including California’s Homekey grant, which helps public entities convert hotels, apartment buildings, and homes into housing for homeless or those at risk of homelessness.

Supportive Housing Failure: Hope Ridge House

Nevada County spent a year searching for a building to turn into supportive housing in Truckee. In October, county officials found a home in the Armstrong Tract that could house five people as well as an on-site house manager. When a Homekey+ grant was announced at the end of November, the county rushed to secure the property first, a condition of the grant, which is given out on a first come, first served basis until the funds are expended. That same month, AMI Housing, a nonprofit housing provider in Auburn that is contracted with the county, signed a 6-month lease with the option to buy, calling the home Hope Ridge House. The county was awarded a $1.2 million grant.

The Homekey+ grant differs from the Homekey grant in that the former targets veterans and individuals with behavioral health challenges such as a serious mental illness or addiction who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.

“Everyone at the table on some level understood that we needed five rooms at the very least for permanent supportive housing,” said Foley, who is on the Tahoe Truckee Homeless Advisory Committee Planning Team. “When funding becomes available, you have to take advantage. We determined a warming center was not a functional model. Let’s do something that is a permanent solution, not Band-Aids that keep getting ripped off.”

Supportive housing is an allowable use in neighborhoods — it does not require any new zoning permits or disclosures, just like a foster home or safe house.

“It’s a preferred use like an Airbnb or growing pot in your home,” said Foley. “The idea is to move people into a safe place to live and give them support. It didn’t need to be disclosed.”

A preferred use refers to an admissible usage in a specific zoning area.

However, when neighbor JD Hoss, owner of KTKE radio station, found out about Hope Ridge and learned that its residents, who had not yet been selected, could have mental health and drug and alcohol issues, and that no drug testing would be required, he became concerned. He circulated a flyer around his neighborhood that read: “Homeless Shelter Opening Feb. 1. Nevada County is moving this project forward without any planned outreach or communication.”

(Editor’s Note: Hope Ridge was going to be permanent housing, not a shelter, which provides temporary housing.)

“I have never stated I am opposed to helping our homeless population and those in our community in need of support … I was once homeless myself,” wrote Hoss in an email to Moonshine. “I am, however, vehemently opposed to the way our county handled this proposed project, lied to our community, and continues to mislead people.”

Neighbor Alison Bermant also took issue with Hope Ridge House.

“I learned my county government officials were not being truthful about who would live in Hope Ridge House and why they did not do public outreach,” she said. “The Homekey+ program is specifically for people with behavioral health problems, so either substance abuse or mental illness, with no barriers to residency, meaning no requirement of sobriety and no requirement of medication compliance for mental illness.”

Part of Bermant’s concerns about Hope Ridge stemmed from her observations of the goings-on at Coldstream Commons, an affordable housing development that includes nine units for Section 811 housing, which is for very low-income persons with disabilities. It opened in 2021.

“I see the cop cars off of my back deck going to Coldstream Commons all the time,” she said. “All those Section 8 housing and the people who live there, unfortunately many of them don’t have jobs. Many of them don’t work. They just drink and do drugs all day long.”

But Foley notes that there are significant differences between affordable housing projects like Coldstream Commons and Truckee Artist Lofts versus permanent supportive housing.

“In permanent supportive housing … individuals are empowered to follow the rules and create a home that supports everyone living there. There is case management to help individuals with life skills and moving forward with their goals,” she wrote in an email to Moonshine Ink. “Truckee Artist Lofts and Coldstream house hundreds of people, the majority of whom were not homeless prior to moving in, just very low income. One property manager is responsible for these units, and they are not providing supportive services.”

Nevada County Supervisor Hardy Bullock was a major proponent of Hope Ridge House. He said that in hindsight the county should have reached out to the neighborhood earlier, but the county had to hurry to secure the lease first to even be able to apply for the grant.

“Going back in time, I would have probably told them that we’re thinking about leasing a property,” he said. “I guess you could come to the community and say, ‘We’re thinking about getting a grant for residential supportive housing in these neighborhoods, and what do you think about it?”

But Bullock takes issue with neighbors’ complaints that there would be no mandatory drug and alcohol testing for Hope Ridge tenants.

“My response is — it’s a residential home,” he said. “My neighbors live differently than I do, but I can’t demand we drug- and alcohol-test all of them. We do have a really well-developed substance use disorder program, and the courts mandate certain people be drug- and alcohol-tested. If those people were participants in this supportive housing, then they would’ve been drug- and alcohol-tested. But we didn’t even know who was going in there.”

Bullock points out that some of the people who were being considered for the home included a mentally disabled woman who lived with her mother, and they were about to lose their housing.

“She needs help paying her bills and showing her where to go to work and how to take care of herself,” he said. “That’s part of supportive housing.”

Another was an older man who lost his wife 10 years ago and could not get back on his feet financially. He did not have any substance abuse issues.

Nobody with a history of violent offenses or charges of arson or sexual predation is considered for supportive housing like Hope Ridge House.

“The county has no reason to mislead anybody,” Bullock said. “We’re in it for the right reasons. All it does is damage our relationship. We don’t win by having a lack of transparency. I want everybody to understand what’s going on. I want everybody to like it and hope for the best. And we can have tough discussions and disagree, but at the end of the day, we’re there to provide a service and get along and support our community.”

Nevada County maintains 11 permanent supportive houses with a total of 79 tenants on the west side of the county. Bullock said he has only received one complaint about a tenant, and it was that the person was smoking cigarettes outside.

In response to neighborhood concerns, the county held a 3-hour public meeting on Feb. 6 at Truckee Town Hall. Out of the approximately 150 people in attendance, Zabriskie estimated 10 were opposed to the project, with a major concern being that the county does not have sufficient mental health and substance abuse services in Truckee to support the tenants.

“People refused to believe that there were adequate services and [believed] that the homeless presented a risk to the neighborhood,” he said. “It was basic stranger danger, fear of the unknown, and stereotyping of homeless. I think most of the immediate perceptions of homeless are of the ones who are the most disruptive, but I don’t think that was the case [for Hope Ridge] for the simple reason that Nevada County wanted the program to succeed.”

I am, however, vehemently opposed to the way our county handled this proposed project, lied to our community, and continues to mislead people.”

~ JD Hoss, neighbor of proposed Hope Ridge House

Bermant spoke to concerns expressed at the meeting.

“I don’t think you should put people with severe mental illness who are not required to take psychotropic meds in a home with other people similarly situated. That is extremely dangerous,” she said. “I don’t think someone has a constitutional right to live in a particular location. There are tons of more affordable homeless services in Reno or Sacramento, that’s where the unhoused should go. It’s dangerous to be unhoused here because of the weather.”

However, Bullock points out that Nevada County has an entire behavioral and mental health unit in Truckee, and that they coordinate with Tahoe Forest Hospital. The county’s crisis stabilization unit, while based in Grass Valley, provides 24-hour mobile crisis services and is staffed by behavioral health professionals who can move people from Truckee to the east side of the county for treatment if necessary.

Bullock and others are firm believers that all people, including homeless and those with behavioral or substance abuse issues, deserve to live where other people live — in neighborhoods.

“People don’t live in industrial complexes like the Pioneer Center. They don’t live in commercial areas like downtown Truckee. That’s not where people live,” Bullock said. “They live in residential neighborhoods because they’re people, and they may be different than us. And some of that can be misfortune or some of it can be financial or character disadvantages that they have. But at the end of the day, there are people who need to be supported. And that’s what healthy, strong communities do — they make local support networks for people who are less fortunate than themselves.”

Next Steps

Due to neighborhood opposition, on Feb. 11 the board of supervisors canceled plans for the Hope Ridge House. The county abandoned the grant and will not renew the lease or purchase the home when the 6 months are up. Nevertheless, Bullock said he is determined to find another Hope Ridge home.

“I’m just going to keep going. I’m just going to keep trying to find out where the community would allow that to take place and how we can get there and how we can fund it,” he said. “I’m not going to give up. I know there’s a lot of people in our community who work really hard to help people in this area, and they’re not giving up either.

NTTHS and the Town of Truckee hosted a community workshop on April 3 for the public to learn more about the homeless action plan. Town Council will vote on endorsing the plan and accepting its recommendations on April 22.

“This problem is not going away,” Bullock said. “We’re still going to have this problem in front of us as a community, and it will only be helped or solved by counties, towns, cities, and local communities working together. That’s the only way. You can’t solve it unless everybody’s on board.”