Editorial: Homeless situation drags on

Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2001 | 8:39 a.m.

Last week Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman dismissed a Clark County Commission proposal to have local governments chip in and raise $600,000 to open a temporary homeless shelter for the winter. Goodman instead wants the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, which is made up of local governments, to address this matter when it meets Sept. 13. A lack of coordination has impeded efforts to address the homeless issue, as Goodman notes, but we hope that Goodman, by delaying this matter for at least two weeks, isn't just trying to put this off for another day -- or for another year.

One of Goodman's beefs is that he believes city residents will be paying twice for social services -- to the city and to the county -- if Commissioner Erin Kenny's fund-raising plan were implemented. Goodman has a point, but the problem is that this happens frequently with local governments that share similar responsibilities. As long as we don't have a consolidated government in the valley, there will always be an overlap in what city residents pay.

The attention paid to the city's argument should not obscure the fact that the Las Vegas City Council has done little in the past few years to address the homeless issue. The city has rousted the homeless from setting up camp on private property near Union Pacific Railroad tracks in the downtown area, a move that only has served to scatter them elsewhere. The city's spat with the MASH Village homeless shelter hasn't helped matters, either.

The Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition meeting in two weeks is an opportunity to do something about the homeless issue. The gathering offers long-term promise for innovative strategies, but that shouldn't ignore the possibility that local governments still may have to provide funding for a homeless shelter to get through this winter.