Nevada City – After listening to feedback from Truckee residents, the Board of Supervisors canceled plans Tuesday for supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness in Truckee.

“We are not pursuing a project in Truckee at this time,” said Supervisor Hardy Bullock. “We don’t feel our clients can be successful, we don’t think we can keep them healthy and well with so much focus and attention, including threats of protest, and we don’t feel our community is supportive of this population. In the future, we commit to taking a different, community-based approach, working closely with the Town and our partners to identify solutions we all support.”

The County had leased a home in the Armstrong neighborhood with the intention of opening Hope Ridge House for up to five tenants and an onsite manager. The home was intended to offer “permanent supportive housing” to those experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. The project would have been funded through Home Key+ state funds, authorized by Proposition 1, passed by voters last year.

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The County received over 250 comments about the project via email, phone calls or voicemails, and public comments made at Board meetings and the Feb. 6 community meeting both in opposition to and in support of the project. However, neighbors said they didn’t receive adequate information about the project and that it was in the wrong neighborhood.

The Truckee Tahoe Homeless Advisory Committee, chaired by Supervisor Bullock and Town of Truckee Mayor Jan Zabriskie, along with members from Tahoe Forest Health Systems, Placer County, Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, the Town of Truckee and more, have spent 16 months developing solutions, and recently published a Homeless Action Plan for eastern county.

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“Unfortunately, this plan came too late to inform this grant opportunity for Hope Ridge House. However, it will guide future efforts and funding streams from the Town of Truckee and other potential supporters,” added Bullock.

Ryan Gruver, the director of the county Health and Human Services Agency, said Truckee “has almost no homeless services,” including no warming shelter. He said it was difficult to adequately inform the neighborhood and act quickly enough to apply for grant funding that could alleviate the situation. The County will continue to provide behavioral health services in Truckee, including psychiatry, therapy, case management and more, in addition to 24/7 mobile crisis services and substance use treatment services through contracted partners.

Bullock apologized for not giving adequate notice to the public. Supervisor Lisa Swarthout, who represents Grass Valley, said there are numerous homes similar to Hope Ridge House in her district without issue. But she said the County should honor Truckee’s apparent wishes to not have such houses and let community residents come up with solutions that work for them.

Swarthout and Bullock urged residents to remember that homeless people are just people.

“They’re human beings just like us,” Bullock said. “They can’t be vilified; they can’t be stereotyped and we can’t apply bias to people that are different than ourselves. That’s the American way, that’s the Truckee way, that’s the Nevada County way.”