By Michelle Baker | Photos by Eric Marks
Faith leaders and advocates from the community lead a vigil Monday at the Reno City Plaza to remember the 135 houseless people who died in 2023. Father Chuck Durante from Saint Thomas Aquinas Cathedral in Reno opened up the vigil, acknowledging over the last three years of these vigils, the number of those dying while experiencing homelessness continues to increase.
“We are not going in the right direction,” Durante said.
Although the public vigils have been ongoing since 2020, the number of deaths of people experiencing homelessness has increased each year since 2016, with 2023 marking the highest death count yet.
Electric candles were lit and placed into paper bags labeled with the names of those who had passed away while speakers announced their names and ages over the speaker.
Community members, family and friends of those who died, as well as those who have experienced homelessness, also attended the vigil in downtown Reno to honor those who had passed.
“We have to remember every one of these individuals. They were members of our community. They deserve our dignity and respect,” Susan Cameron, a licensed social worker with Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada, said at the vigil.
“We are not going in the right direction.”
“Housing is a human right, and a public health issue as well as a humanitarian issue. And it’s our responsibility as a community to take care of all members of our community.”
Some community advocates discussed the work that is being done daily to help the unhoused. One Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada speaker noted that St. Vincent’s dining room prepares 1,400 meals daily for the unhoused. Speakers emphasized that more action needs to be taken to prevent these deaths in the future.
“When we talk about access to health care, access to education, affordable housing, livable wages, all of these, I understand, are complicated subjects, and all of those contribute to it,” said Ben Castro, the executive director of Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality, or RISE. “But really, the silver bullet to ending this thing is our courage and our desire to create a better world where all life is worthy of dignity.“
“That’s 135 people [whose] stories weren’t finished yet, and they transitioned too soon. That’s 135 people that didn’t get to say, ‘I love you’ one last time, or maybe, ‘I’m sorry,’ or maybe ‘I forgive you.’ It’s not fair. They deserve better,” Castro said.
