Reno to break up tent city

RENO -- City officials have ordered men to move out of a tent city on the edge of downtown Reno. By next week, all women also must vacate the encampment where as many as 160 people have lived since the beginning of summer.

City officials say the evictions coincide with the scheduled opening later this month of two new homeless-services facilities nearby.

Police, the city manager's office, Community Resource Division and Public Works Department decided two months ago to make the change before the Oct. 15 opening of the women's drop-in center and family resource center.

Some of the women, who will have to leave the tent city when it closes Oct. 15, expressed frustration about being separated from husbands and boyfriends.

"I'm not sleeping apart from my husband," said Kim Kidd, 36, a 22-year resident of Reno. "That's the only support I've got right now."

Kidd and her husband will stay with a friend because men cannot stay in the encampment unless they are in a relationship with a pregnant woman.

City community reinvestment manager Jodi Royal-Goodwin said the 90 men and 20 women who left the tent city had found places to go.

Tent city residents were interviewed to determine where they could go, including weekly motels, staying with friends, shelter beds or housing assistance.

"Everybody had a place to go," Royal-Goodwin said. "We tried to help everyone so they wouldn't be displaced by the closing of the tent area."