Sheriff’s Ormsby Room to be warming shelter in Carson City this weekend

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office will open as a warming shelter this weekend for the homeless population in Carson.

For the first time, the Carson City Sheriff’s Office will be opening its Ormsby Room to help house those in need this weekend.

“All of the shelters are occupied and the Parks and Recreation and Open Space department was out of options,” said Sheriff Ken Furlong. “This is the first time we are doing this, so if we do it again, it will be dependent on how successful it is this weekend.”

He said Steve Brunner, deputy director of Parks and Recreation reached out to the Furlong Tuesday night about the concern to house the homeless population for the upcoming weekend.

The shelter at the Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with FISH, will be open Friday and Saturday from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and will have a FISH warming shelter manager on scene throughout. The Ormsby Room is estimated to house about 25 to 40 people.

“We shall see if it will work or not,” Furlong said. “It is kind of a double edged sword because we are central to downtown so that may bring in a lot of people, but it may also deter people because it is a cop shop. But the Ormsby Room was created to build relationships with the community so obviously it is a good alternative to a far away warming shelter for some people.”

Typically, the warming shelter is set up at Fuji Park, however, FISH isn’t always able to secure the building due to other scheduling conflicts. Now having the option of utilizing the Ormsby Room is extremely helpful, said FISH operations director Robin Reedy.

“There often isn’t much time between when we see (what the temperature is) to then organize a proctor for the night, organize with Fuji, make sure they aren’t busy already and try to move things around,” Reedy said. “From a manpower and time aspect it is nice to know that when Fuji is out of the question, the Ormsby Room is in.

“It is incredibly meaningful to have the support of the city then the additional support from our safety services because it shows us they recognize the value of what we do to make everyone safe.”

FISH will have its Shelter Shuttle available to transport people from FISH to the Sheriff’s Office. People also can transport themselves to the shelter.

Reedy said FISH anticipates its usual requirements will still be in place for anyone wishing to utilize the warming shelter. The shelter will take people who are intoxicated, but do not have any alcohol or drugs in their possession; who have pets that will be under their owner’s supervision; who have no shelter available to them; and who are not a danger to themselves or others.