In late 2003, the Reno City Council identified a site on Record Street for the co-location and expansion of homeless services. The Men’s Drop-in-Center, Reno Sparks Gospel Mission and St. Vincent’s Dining Facility were relocated and a new woman’s shelter, family shelter, triage center and community resource center were built, which became known as the Community Assistance Center (CAC).

In July 2008, the mayors of the two cities and the chair of the County Commission held a Homeless Summit.  At that time the community urged the jurisdictions to identify a lead entity, open the facilities as soon as possible and develop an entity with dedicated funding to assume long-term management of the facilities.  In response, the three jurisdictions developed and adopted the original cooperative agreement in September 2008, with the City of Reno as lead entity to manage CAC operations.

The three jurisdictions agreed to fund the CAC using a property tax-based formula to determine each entity’s contribution. Reno and Sparks agreed to allocate an amount equivalent to $0.01 of property tax and Washoe County an amount equivalent to $0.005 of property tax. Applying the formula results in a Sparks contribution for Fiscal Year 2020 of $302,267. Per the terms of the Agreement, the City of Reno is responsible for contributing $890,960 while Washoe County is to contribute $2,759,584 this current fiscal year.

The funding to be provided by Sparks, Reno and Washoe County through the Agreement will be used to support homeless shelter operations, including shelters for men, women and children. Most of the funding is for operation of the Community Assistance Center located on Record Street in downtown Reno. Additionally, the funding supports the overflow shelter and, after it opens, a secondary shelter location for women and children on the Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services campus. As the lead agency, the City of Reno is entering into a contract with Volunteers of America (VOA) in the amount of $2,691,087 to operate the CAC and overflow shelters during fiscal year 2020.

The City of Sparks funds ($302,267) will be used only to fund operation of the CAC. This amount consists of $116,405 from the City’s FY 2019/20 CDBG allocation (15 percent of the CDBG funding, the maximum permitted for “public services”) and $185,862 from the General Fund. These funds were included in the City Council’s adopted budget for fiscal year 2020.

The Agreement is effective upon approval of all parties and is for the period from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.  The City of Reno City Council approved the Agreement on July 31, 2019. The Washoe County Commission is scheduled to consider the Agreement on August 27, 2019.

1. The City Council may approve the agreement as submitted.
2. The City Council may modify the terms of the agreement subject to concurrence by the City of Reno and Washoe County.
3. The City Council may reject the agreement and provide direction to the City Manager.

I move to approve the Interlocal Cooperative Agreement (AC-5599) for Operation of the Community Assistance Center and Other Homeless Services Among the City of Reno, Washoe County and the City of Sparks for $302,267 in Fiscal Year 2020.