A now-annual vigil has been scheduled to honor the lives of the 135 people who died last year and were living without a fixed, permanent address. The event is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, at downtown’s City Plaza next to the “Believe” sculpture. It begins at 5:30 p.m.
“Please join us for a candlelight vigil remembering those in our community who silently left this world while having no safe and reliable housing,” a flier for the event states. Past vigils have had community members read the names of each individual who died.
Father Chuck Durante of St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral is helping to organize the multi-faith effort with the Nevada Interfaith Association.
The event comes as the number of those living without homes who died continues to rise. First reported by This Is Reno, the deaths have consistently increased year over year despite the region putting more money into homeless services.
The death rate increase also comes as some local officials have been promoting false figures claiming the region has reduced homelessness by as much as 50%. This Is Reno published a fact-checking article demonstrating that those numbers were based on a narrow timeline and, overall, the area has seen an increase in homelessness in the past decade.
Deaths among the unsheltered continue to rise. This Is Reno has been tracking and reporting the deaths since 2016. County officials this year attributed the rise in homeless deaths to increased fentanyl overdoses and population growth.
“Each person is sacred,” the interfaith association’s flier notes. “Every life holds value.”
