Friar rallies homeless at Las Vegas City Hall

Jace Radke and Diana Sahagun

Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2001 | 11:15 a.m.

A group of homeless people and Franciscan friar David Buer brought their plea for funding for a temporary homeless shelter to the Las Vegas City Council this morning after holding an all-night vigil in front of the council chambers.

Buer said he was hoping that Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and the council would meet Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny's challenge to help raise about $560,000 to open MASH Village's emergency winter shelter for the next nine months, while Catholic Charities' new shelter is being constructed.

"When Catholic Charities started their remodeling, we lost 175 beds," Buer said. "We're in a crisis situation, and we need the MASH tent open as soon as possible."

The MASH Village tent holds 250 single men.

The City Council was set this morning to discuss diverting funds to open the emergency shelter and to hear a comprehensive plan from city staffers to address the homeless problem.

Earlier this month Kenny challenged the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Mesquite to address the lack of beds for the homeless by contributing a population-based portion of the money needed to open the emergency shelter.

So far, only Boulder City and Clark County have agreed to contribute. The Henderson City Council does not plan to vote on Kenny's proposal and has no plans to budget additional money for the homeless, city officials said. North Las Vegas has also opted not to contribute.

Mesquite voted down the request, citing the fact that the city is 85 miles away from any of the homeless facilities in Las Vegas.

For the past three years the city of Las Vegas and Clark County have split a cost of about $90,000 a year to fund the shelter from December to March, and that money has already been budgeted for this year, Las Vegas Neighborhood Services Director Sharon Segerblom said.

MASH has also found a way to cut back on insulation in the temporary shelter that could knock $110,000 off the cost of opening the shelter, Buer said.

"With that knocked off, and if the city and county have already budgeted for the winter months, then we've already cut $200,000 off the cost," Buer said. "If I were to take a poll of the homeless, I'm sure they'd opt to have the shelter, even if it's a little hotter inside because of less insulation."

Buer has been holding vigils with the homeless over the past several weeks to bring attention to the need for the shelter, and to drum up money. Tuesday night and this morning Buer sat in front of the Las Vegas City Council chambers with the homeless and signs calling attention to the need for a shelter.

The Fremont Street Experience, the city halls in Henderson, North Las Vegas and Las Vegas and Strip casinos, including the MGM Grand, have all been sites of vigils.

"Park Place Entertainment has been collecting money, and the Mandalay Bay and Stratosphere have said they'd help, but the only money we have in the bank is from the county and Boulder City," Buer said.

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