Local officials, homeless gather at daylong summit

Friday, Sept. 14, 2001 | 9:19 a.m.

Friction between Clark County and the city of Las Vegas over the homeless issue flared at the beginning of Thursday's daylong "summit" to discuss solutions.

It took diplomacy by event facilitator Martha Fleetwood to get the summit moving after bickering over the city's decision not to show a video because it highlighted only county efforts to relieve the homeless situation.

Fleetwood, executive director of HomeBase, a San Francisco nonprofit agency, appealed to dozens of city and county officials, homeless advocates, and homeless men and women to put aside their personal and political agendas in the spirit of coming together to solve a social problem.

Her reasoning prevailed and the more than 100 participants, meeting at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas, formed working groups to address various aspects of homelessness.

One session was spent forming a broad-based policy, another on the actions needed to carry out the policy and a third on the financial support the policy would require.

Issues included:

How to help the homeless while encouraging self-sufficiency.

Whether to concentrate programs in the downtown area or disperse them throughout the valley.

What services to provide.

How to keep records about individuals receiving services without violating their privacy.

Frank Miller, 48, detailed the daily realities of a homeless person to a table of officials and advocates. He talked about stretching his $82 weekly salary and the difficulties faced by diabetics at area shelters, where meals often consist of doughnuts.

Margaret Gess, homeless coordinator for California's Santa Clara County, spoke of a $20 million affordable housing trust created, in part, through donations from Silicon Valley companies.

At one point Maria Garcia, a resident of the MASH Village shelter, asked Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman: "Have you ever been in my situation?"

Goodman said, "No, and I wouldn't want to be. But I hope I can understand what it's like."

The mayor is chairman of the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, which sponsored the summit.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development last year provided almost $3.6 million to local governments in Southern Nevada to help homeless people. There is no guarantee that that level of funding will continue.

In the final session, on funding, Goodman suggested involving the gaming, hotel and entertainment industries, and other members of the local business community.

Station Casinos recently donated $50,000 to MASH Village, the only such donation participants could name.

"They're (the hotels and local businesses in general) not doing their fair share and not giving back enough to the community," Goodman said. "If Silicon Valley manufacturers ask how they can make their communities a better place, then why can't the casinos?"