by Kelsey Penrose

Supervisors approved a contract with Spirit of Hope for transitional housing as part of their specialty court programing.

As part of the program, the city will pay $5,000 per month for a term of three year to support the initiative.

Currently, Spirit of Hope, a local non-profit organization providing affordable housing since 2010, operates twelve houses within the community.

Specifically, funds will go towards the Sunrise House which is utilized by Carson City’s Mental Health Court according to Officer Cody Peek from the Department of Alternative Sentencing.

Payments for the house are paid out of the Indigent Accident Fund through the Carson City Health Department. Recently, rent of the house was raised, and the house manager is paid $1,000 per month.

There are seven participants who are supervised under alternative sentencing, who are placed by the courts into the house to help support their progress within the program.

According to Peek, he conducts roughly two to three home visits each week.

“I wouldn’t say it’s just necessary for the treatment programs, I would say it’s critical,” Peek said. “As you know, housing is slim in Carson City especially for people in the mental health court program.”

Peek said the house is always full, and as soon as an individual transfers out of the program, they have someone ready to be placed.

Mayor Lori Bagwell asked if there is a success rate for individuals who go through Sunrise House.

While individuals within the house are not tracked specifically, Carson City Court Administrator Max Cortes said, Carson City’s overall success rate with specialty court participants aligns with the national average with 75% of participants successfully changing their lives.

“I will say that individuals who are homeless or don’t have a stable drug-free home environment they are going to be more successful if we place the in a supervisor sober environment with an on-site house manager,” Cortes said. “Once you have a roof over your head, a sober-living environment, you can really put forth your efforts to participate in the program. If you don’t have that basic need met your success is not going to be there.”

Bagwell said the program is inline with the city’s goals.

“These are people who have said yes, I want to try, so I think it fits our whole purpose: it’s a person who is ready to try to be successful and try to change their life,” Bagwell said.

Cortes agreed, stating that the hope is to stop the revolving door of crime. In addition, many individuals have children and the program can have a generational impact.

As far as funding is concerned, Cortes said they are looking for other ways to continue funding the house, and multiple grants have been applied for.

Supervisors approved the contract unanimously.

To learn more about Spirit of Hope, please visit https://www.spiritofhopeincnv.org