Salvation Army to close one shelter

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2001 | 9:39 a.m.

The Rev. Duane Sonnenberg, homeless services administrator of the Salvation Army of Las Vegas, will close one of the shelters on the charity's campus at Owens Avenue and Main Street tonight for the second night in a row, leaving about 130 homeless men and women without a place to sleep.

The closure may be permanent or at least for the foreseeable future.

He said the shelter was to have closed Oct. 1 because of a lack of funds, but that plumbing problems in the building on Tuesday made him move the date forward.

"We've been dipping into (financial) reserves for three years now, and can't operate the way we have been," he said.

The administrator said he would also be reducing the number of managers from 10 to one and assigning more responsibilities to volunteers.

The building will continue to open during the day for services such as showers, a library, and a computer.

Sonnenberg said that homeless families with children could continue to spend the night at the building. He said the campus offered about 240 beds in other buildings, including a center for the mentally ill. These buildings and services will not be affected by the budget cuts.

The decision to close the shelter comes after a Sept. 13 homeless "summit" held at the Golden Nugget.

"Reaching this decision now is too ironic, and kind of depressing," Sonnenberg said. He attributed the charity's deficits to lack of support from local governments and businesses.

He also said that traditional sources of funding for the Salvation Army, such as Christmas donation kettles, are also producing less income for the charity in recent years because businesses are prohibiting them from collecting donations on their property.