Homeless’ lot worsens

Diana Sahagun

Monday, Jan. 8, 2001 | 11:17 a.m.

In a matter of months more than 400 men who walk the streets of the Las Vegas homeless corridor will find themselves with no bed, no mat, no warm place to sleep at night.

At the end of February Catholic Charities will close its 175-bed shelter as part of a massive rebuilding project. Demolition and reconstruction is estimated to take until June 2002.

Two weeks later, on March 15, MASH Village is set to close its temporary winter tent, which gives 250 homeless men a bed for the night.

Local officials and homeless advocates say they're close to panic mode, with no immediate answer in sight.

But while the short-term future may be bleak, the long-term prospects for the homeless living in Las Vegas' "homeless corridor" -- loosely defined as the area near Owens Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard -- may never have been better.

The construction at Catholic Charities will result in 475 extra beds when it's completed next year. Already Shade Tree has opened a new, expanded shelter, adding 300 beds for women and children.

And homeless people in the Las Vegas Valley have gained a new high-profile advocate: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

Goodman, chairman of the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, has formed a task force to identify what causes homelessness and how to plan over the long term for the number of people who flock to the city and find themselves without a place to stay.

"As the mayor, I believe it's my responsibility to address these issues and not shy away from them," Goodman said. "In order to resolve a problem, you have to understand what the problem is, and it's not just people out on the street."

The task force is made up of a group of citizens who are familiar with the homeless community and the services that are available to address the issue, he said. Those services include help for mental illness, alcoholism, addiction and more.

The Southern Nevada Homeless Coalition, a nonprofit group made up of members of the community, is also offering its help to ensure an organized response and plan.

Several of the solutions being explored include to increase social services, to discuss building shelters in Henderson or North Las Vegas and to offer more low-income housing.

According to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty based in Washington, D.C., last year 2 million men, women and children were homeless in the United States.

A recent count by the UNLV Sociology Department found 6,700 homeless people in the Las Vegas Valley. Las Vegas had the lion's share of them, with 3,932; North Las Vegas had 1,154; Henderson had 293; and another 1,328 lived in unincorporated Clark County.

The study found that the city of Las Vegas is bearing the economic and social burden for the regional issue of homelessness.

Goodman said he hopes the task force will find solutions on how to provide more services to the homeless, instead of throwing money at the problem.

"Money is important, but the money is not the solution," Goodman said.

In recent months Las Vegas, Clark County and North Las Vegas have pitched in to solve an immediate problem: the need for homeless restrooms. After numerous protests from homeless advocates about the lack of services last year, Clark County and Las Vegas each pitched in $15,000, while North Las Vegas kicked in $5,000 to run one men's and one women's restroom at Catholic Charities for one year, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

According to Catholic Charities, the restrooms experienced an average of 47 uses each night.

Because the contract expired in August, Catholic Charities made pleas for more money to extend the service.

The county responded with a $15,363 grant, and North Las Vegas gave $10,000 to run one women's and one men's 24-hour restroom from March 1 to Aug. 31.

Frank Richo, residential services director for Catholic Charities, said he will ask the Las Vegas City Council for $15,000 to run the restrooms at Catholic Charities past August.

Meanwhile, agencies that serve the homeless are scrambling to replace the 400-plus beds that will be lost in the next two months, so far with minimal results.

The Las Vegas Rescue Mission and Salvation Army are coordinating with Catholic Charities to possibly offer another 10 beds in each of their chapels for the homeless to sleep, Richo said.

And MASH Village representatives plan to ask the city of Las Vegas for help to run the winter tent one extra month.

Such requests are emergency requests to supplement support local governments already provide for the homeless. Last year Clark County provided $1.5 million for services in the homeless corridor. Las Vegas spent $797,300, down from $1.8 million in 1999.

Henderson does not contribute to agencies that serve the homeless corridor, city spokesman Vicki Taylor said, because city officials believe Henderson does not contribute to the problem. The city does fund a nonprofit group that serves the homeless in Henderson.

Taylor said a majority of the homeless in Henderson choose to be homeless, as a lifestyle.

Franciscan brother David Buer, a homeless advocate, said the local municipalities must coordinate better to at least maintain services. As a member of the homeless coalition, Buer said additional shelters should be built in North Las Vegas and Henderson to help with the problem.

North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon said while the city is not looking at building a shelter, it is focused on helping to end homelessness by offering more affordable housing.

"There's always the aspect of some homeless that have mental illness, where affordable housing won't make a difference, but North Las Vegas has concentrated most of our efforts on the housing area," he said.

Buer said the problem needs to be solved, but in the meantime more work must be done to provide adequate shelter and services.

"If I had my dream come true, there would be adequate shelter for every man, woman and child that needs it," he said. "A homeless person is a human being. We are going to have to provide at least this minimum standard."