By Kristen Hackbarth and Bob Conrad
The City of Reno continued its practice of discussing the region’s housing last week, and City Council members were praised by city staff for being leaders in the state when it comes to adding affordable housing units—despite adding those units at a pace so slow it would take more than four decades to catch up to current needs.
Council members liked many of the recommendations in a report by urban planner and policy expert Shane Phillips. But it’s not the first time some of those ideas have been suggested.
Five years ago, a national housing nonprofit told community members investment and policy changes were needed.
A few months later, the city donated land to build nine affordable units.
Seven years ago, real estate and land use consultants told council members investment in housing and diversified housing options were needed.
Two months later, council members couldn’t figure out how to move forward with plans.
And seven months after that, Mayor Hillary Schieve said she was excited about an arts district planned by Jacobs Entertainment—which also led to the leveling of a row of affordable housing. That site is now a parking lot.
Search “affordable housing” on This Is Reno, and you’ll get 25 pages of results covering city workshops, advocacy events, code changes, legislative efforts, failed legislative efforts, projects, including some that were approved and others stymied by the city, and even op-eds by developers.
It’s safe to say there’s been consistent and long-term discussion of the problem and what to do about it.
“We’ve done nothing but sit up here and talk about how important this issue is.” That’s what then-council member Paul McKenzie said in 2017.
And yet here we are.
The problem is clear. The potential solutions are many. But the cycle of “here’s the problem, here’s a solution, let’s review more” has become so constant that substantive change remains elusive. Has much of the community given up on the hope that rents could be affordable, housing could be attainable and homelessness could be eliminated?
Perhaps most telling is the planner’s quip—at the prompting of the mayor—at this past week’s council meeting that the city gets a C rating for its efforts. Phillips said no city has received an A rating. Still, C means average, so doling out high praise for such recurring lackluster efforts should not be marked as a moment to celebrate, as some at city hall appear to believe is the order of the day, but rather as a recognition that there is obvious room for improvement.
Well-documented, past indicators show workshops, meetings, forums, listening sessions and whatever else comprise filling the air with words. At the same time, the hardships of living in the region continue in dramatic, costly ways for not just the most marginalized but also for average-income earning residents living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Affordable housing efforts should be recognized, but officials maintaining the region deserves a pat on the back, when too many still openly suffer, means levity—not PR speak—is warranted.
