City Council backs emergency shelter

Jeffrey Libby

Thursday, Nov. 8, 2001 | 9:13 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday approved the spending of $51,000 to allow a 250-bed tented winter shelter for homeless men to open a month early this year.

The $51,000 is part of a $200,000 allocation approved by the city to provide emergency services and shelter for the homeless. The $200,000 is from the city's general fund and was budgeted for this fiscal year.

Mayor Oscar Goodman, however, said he supported the funding only because it could help out-of-work families who have been evicted from homes in the wake of the recent economic downturn.

"Las Vegas has gained a reputation as having a heart that reaches out to the homeless, and that is unacceptable to me," Goodman said. "The homeless are coming here. They're coming in droves. We have to stop that."

The tent, operated for three winters by MASH Village, normally is open mid-December to mid-April. But since March more than 355 beds for the homeless have been lost, due mostly to the temporary closure of Catholic Charities. Consequently, many homeless have been forced to sleep on sidewalks and in parking lots on a rundown corner at Main Street and Foremaster Lane between a funeral home and a cremation service.

The city also approved an additional $50,000 for Metro Police to step up efforts to monitor other social service centers. MASH Village, which provides housing for families retraining for new jobs, is near several other emergency services facilities, including the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities and Shade Tree, a women's shelter.

Each of the three agencies will receive $33,000 as part of the city's allocation.

The Clark County Commission on Tuesday considered allocating $88,000 to help the tent stay open through June, when Catholic Charities expects to open an expanded facility with 864 beds.

However, for the tent to remain open past April MASH Village would need city permits, which have to be approved by the Las Vegas Fire Department. That could prove difficult in hotter months due to the tent's possibly inadequate sprinkler and air-conditioning systems, Ruth Bruland, director of MASH Village, said.

Las Vegas Councilman Gary Reese, who cast the sole vote against the $200,000 allocation, said, "I feel like we're just flushing it (the money) down the toilet."

Reese, though, said he supported the council's approval of an additional $100,000 in federal funding to set up a trust fund to provide homeless services on a regional level.