When the City of Reno and Washoe county completed a new homeless services campus in 2005, they expected to grow slowly into the facility, but within months, the new shelter was at capacity, and a few weeks ago, some were turned away.  Within days, an overflow facility was opened and it too is full.  According to shelter manager Rick Redding, before the overflow people were sleeping all over downtown.
 
Until the overflow, we were finding on average three to five men and women just in that small little area … one of the first weeks, we pulled a seventy-two year old women out of a dumpster who had been sleeping in there with three other men, just to get out of the cold.
 
Now, no one seeking a warm place to sleep is without a bed, but if trends continue, expanded facilities will be needed by next winter.  It’s estimated that Reno’s homeless population has more than doubled over the past five years.  And in a new trend, many seeking shelter hold full time jobs.

Brian Bahouth KXJZ News