Two Women in Tent City Share their Experience

Our Town Reno

On an early morning by the Wells Avenue bridge, downtown Reno ambassadors roam around on Segways; cops respond to disturbance calls, and two women attempt to clean out their tents in hopes of making the area feel more like home. Ahead of a new Cares campus, this is where people living in tents are being allowed to stay, but that may all change soon, with sweeps being threatened, and police refusing to hire more social workers, despite pleas from advocates. Shannon Moore, 32, has lived in Reno for 30 years and has been homeless for the past six years. Moore feels invisible because of her current state of living. To her, being a woman and homeless comes with severe challenges. “I can't even take a shower now,” she said. “You know, like they have two different men's shelters for men to do whatever they want all day long, be drunk on beer and all that. And they can take showers. The women’s shelter is all the way (across town). And when you get there, you can't get in and take a shower, not unless you have a bed there and the bed wait is like a month.” Patches, 63, a woman at the Wells Ave. camp originally from Carson City expressed how becoming homeless in Reno has required her to change how she sees the world. Patches explains the world is all about love, but often times being a woman without stable shelter, she says people seem to take her for granted. Our reporters for this episode are Gracie Gordon and Rachel Jackson.