Modular housing pods (ModPods) at the Nevada Cares Campus have been moved into a former baseball field—the “Governor’s Bowl”—and 45 residents are now living in the tiny homes.
The pods moved from outside of the bowl in March and are now in the area of the former field, comprising the “Safe Camp” area of the campus. The Safe Camp started with tents that were damaged in the wind and weather, and Washoe County officials last year began having people live in the pods.
County officials gave a tour of the area last week to members of the news media. The site had been shared with the Nevada Department of Transportation, which had been using the area for staging for freeway construction equipment.
Dog runs, fire pits and a community building at the camp are all brand new. There is room for five more residents to fill up all 50 pods.
Safe Camp resident Helene Oliver said the Safe Camp and ModPods have been a huge motivation to stop sleeping on the streets.
“Now that I’m here at ModPods, it’s just wonderful,” she told This Is Reno. Oliver said the Downtown Reno Ambassadors referred her to the Safe Camp. She said she was hesitant to go to the main tent structure at the Cares Campus. The ModPods, though, give her more privacy and the opportunity to find a job.
“It’s a lot more things that I have the time and the privacy to do,” she said. “Sitting down, being alone with my thoughts, I can do that in that pod, and it’s mine. I am totally free to be who I am. Safe Camp has given me my life back.”
Dana Searcy with Washoe County said the Governor’s Bowl section of the campus took longer than expected to develop.
“It will stay 50 ModPods,” Searcy said. “There is an extra acre that is available for future development, but there has not been any decisions made.”
The pods cost about $13,000 each. They have room for one person and are heated and cooled. The camp’s new community building has computer stations, meeting areas and an area to eat.
Grant Denton with the Karma Box project, which runs the Safe Camp, said there is no deadline for people staying in the ModPods as long as they are working toward more permanent housing.
The Safe Camp graduates more people into permanent housing versus the Cares Campus.
