KINGS BEACH, Calif. – The Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF) held 2025’s first Lunch and Learn session on Monday, where speakers Cindy Basso, Kristina Kind, and Andrew Ryan touched on what the community and different organizations are doing to tackle the multifaceted issue.

According to the last point-in-time count for 2024 for the Tahoe-Truckee region, there were 52 recorded unhoused people in the area. While that was a drop from the 88 recorded unhoused people in 2023, many services such as the day shelter and warming center are not available at this time. In the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year, over 200 unique visits were recorded for the day shelter, and 42 to the warming center. These are no longer available due to a zoning restriction for shelters in the county, as well as lack of staffing for the warming center, which ran only at night and was weather-dependent.

Cindy Basso, who volunteers with the North Tahoe Truckee Homeless Services (NTTHS), works closely with unhoused people and interviewed some to hear their stories. “Every homeless person has a unique story, but none of them, as a child, dreamed of being homeless,” said Basso. “We in the United States have failed the most vulnerable in our society.”

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The lack of public restrooms and facilities in Truckee were one of the key issues that Basso highlighted, saying that unhoused people were unable to access the dignity of a private place to relieve themselves or shower. She also pointed out that there are few places that they can access outlets to charge devices without paying—one of the places that people she spoke to frequented recently closed their outlets. Lastly, she spoke about how challenging it was for unhoused people to have to fill out paperwork for services without a mailing address or easy access to important documents. And without a permanent shelter or warming room in the community, it can be difficult to get resources to the people who need it most.

One man, who has been unhoused in the community for 23 years after his wife died and he was unable to afford rent, told Basso that what he most wanted in the community was to be seen. “I am invisible. I just want recognition that I am human,” quoted Basso.

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Basso, among other volunteers with NTTHS, mentors people who need support with being newly housed or may need other resources. Many people have been unhoused for so long, they are new to skills like upkeep of their space.

“What we have is working, but we need to do more,” said Basso. She urged people to do better, especially because of the size of the community and the relatively small population of unhoused people within it.

Kristina Kind, program director of TTCF and participating member of the Tahoe Truckee Homeless Advisory Committee, presented on the housing continuum and the current Homeless Action Plan. She addressed how people can move across the housing continuum of being unhoused to living in market rate housing based on circumstances or preference. Having multiple types of housing available that span the continuum is “needed for a vibrant community,” said Kind.

However, in the area, there are over 4000 people at or below the 80% area median income (AMI) who are inadequately housed. Inadequate housing means the place has issues related to plumbing, heating, electricity, or general maintenance. “Inadequate housing creates housing instability,” said Kind.

Kind went on to present about the ideal system of care that is being pursued: a holistic, person-centered network that could adapt to individual and community needs. The current Homeless Action Plan has a vision for a functional zero of homelessness in the community, focusing on crisis stabilization, stable housing, establishing partnership structures, and sustainable funding. The consulting services at Bowling Business Services, who conducted the first-ever study of homeless services and needs in the region, recommended that in the next five years, the plan needed to raise $1 million.

Andrew Ryan, a civil engineer from PR Design and Engineering Inc., spoke as someone who had been contacted by AMI and Placer County during the development of Brown Bear Studios. The property provides 13 units, with one manager from AMI, as permanent supportive housing.

Ryan said his eyes were opened to the unhoused population in the area during 2019, where he was often working along night crews during the highway alignment project in North Tahoe. Later, he was reached out to by Placer County to recommend a site for the Homekey initiative, which converts hotels, motels, and vacant apartments into long-term housing for those experiencing homelessness or are at risk of it.

At the time, the 7 Pines Motel was already having issues in the community and was a fairly old site that could use renovation. Along with a few other properties, Ryan told the county that it was a possible site, which they ended up selecting. Ryan indicated his interest in how it would be a “significant investment in the community” and would improve the plumbing and electrical on the site, as well as the public sidewalk and landscaping for the site.

Later, Ryan was hired by AMI when the occupancy changes for the site required code upgrades, such as enclosing trash. “Though they don’t look like much on a page, the benefits [of code upgrades] mean quite a bit for the community,” said Ryan. Ultimately, he felt that the public input, oversight, and improvements in the neighborhood through providing supportive housing services were important to him as a community member.

Several attendees indicated their interest in mentoring with the NTTHS, as well as discussing the California legislation AB 2339 with city council, which would allow shelters to be placed in residential areas rather than in a church as is currently stipulated.

The next housing Lunch and Learn will take place on March 14.

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.