When we caught up with her, Jody, whose father was a rich developer, but who fell on hard times herself, and her teenage daughter had been living without housing for three weeks.

“I tried to do the weekly thing. I had a job, but I was two days late on rent. They wouldn't let me stay for two days and here I am … Shelters are currently full. Domestic violence shelters are full and have a waiting list. Section 8 has been down closed for a year….The family shelter is also full and also has a waiting list and they told me to check back once a week. This is the biggest homeless population they've had in history here… I was lucky enough to find this place called the Prayer House. And we're just kind of winging it here you know. But here I am lugging all my stuff around down to two bags for my daughter and I. And this is my life. I don't do drugs and you know I don't gamble and we're just good people, just got put on the street you know.”

This episode features more poetry by our resident street poet Donald Griffin.

Here's some of what Drew Willis wrote analyzing his writing ...

"Donald Griffin speaks like he writes. He weaves through images and ideas, the last word of every phrase seeming to trigger a parallel line of thought. He can theorize about unseen dimensions and institutional corruption in the same sentence... In his work, Griffin calls this phenomenon 'The Reno Matrix,' an invisible veil hiding what really controls the day to day reality of a changing city. He represents the unseen influence of media with the ubiquity of devices.."

Our resident street poet Donald Griffin returns with new street poetry, based on his life from losing the mother of his children and himself to addiction, and then charting his miracle recovery through writing.

“I was in Midtown, and they raised my rent 70% there all at once and there was no way I was going to pay for that with no improvements on their part. And I left Midtown and came to Wells Avenue." For some local business owners, like Reno native Lisa Adele Rojas from Mandala Massage Supply & Apothecary, they face the double whammy of rent for their own living space going up as well as for their business. Reporters Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins spoke with her at her shop to find out more.

As a second part looking into the opioid epidemic on the Our Town Reno podcast, reporters Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins interview Dr. Karla Wagner, an Associate Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Robert Harding, another local Reno expert in harm reduction and community outreach to discuss best practices to help the addicted and those in recovery.

Daniel Fred himself in long term recovery teaches students at the University of Nevada, Reno about substance abuse. Here with Our Town Reno reporters Prince Nesta and Jordan Blevins, he discusses the ongoing opioid epidemic, as well as the resurgence of cocaine and MMDA, as well as other challenges faced by current students.

Our resident street poet from the NEW Generation Dare group, Donald Griffin, reads three of his poems, Crystal Meth, Holding on and Bedtime. Griffin lost the mother of his children to addiction and was attacked while sleeping along the Truckee River, before deciding to get sober and turn his life around.

“I'm very upset. I'm pissed off,” Sharon Marie Daniels said. “We just want to help people and they're cutting that off so we're not able to do that anymore.” Soon, after new locations are figured out, healthy volunteer prepared meals will no longer be allowed at Reno's main downtown shelter. Daniels who was homeless herself as a teen says she will keep fighting to make sure her Sunday noontime meals are served, wherever she can, to access the most people in need as possible.

“It's hard, but it's better cause it's warm, you know?” Steven said. “It's stressful because I feel like I’ve got to protect … you know, the streets ain't fun.” Two college graduates whose lives took difficult turns, Renee and Steven were recently separated after he went to jail in Louisiana and she decided to go back home to Pennsylvania. “I was assaulted while he was in jail. So yeah, it's hard,” she said. Renee said she missed the embrace of his arms and feeling safe with Steven. The two decided to be together again in Reno, even if it means living on the streets. Here they describe how difficult it is and how they are trying to get sober.