Task force on homeless wants consultant to solve problems

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Thursday, June 27, 2002 | 10:01 a.m.

After more than a year of work, a regional task force on homelessness reached a turning point Wednesday: It decided to hire a consultant to help it take its next step.

The main sticking point for the group in recent months has been how to fund the strategies in a five-point plan it has crafted, and what kind of board should oversee the funds.

The task force, made up of officials from Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Clark County, as well as representatives from the private sector and nonprofit agencies, decided that the board controlling the purse strings should only include government officials.

But it couldn't reach consensus on how to form the board, nor on where to look for money to back the plan.

The solution: go to the local governments represented on the task force, ask for a total of $25,000 to match federal funds already available, and hire a consultant to come up with answers.

The County Commission also has proposed a ballot question asking for a property tax increase to fund solutions to homelessness -- money that likely would go into the fund.

"Resolving this question will be key to creating centralized accountability in our future policy on homelessness," said Bill Arent, of the city of Las Vegas. Arent no longer is task force coordinator, but he continues to assist the group while the city seeks a replacement.

The board could be up and running within a year -- faster than if the task force itself tried to resolve the issue, Arent said.

The task force's plan, in addition to the fund, recommends helping the homeless find jobs, coordinating programs between different levels of government, treating the mentally ill and developing affordable housing.

Some of these activities are already pursued by different public and private agencies, but a board would create specific goals to be reached and identify sources of revenue to reach the goals.

The lack of specific goals and a price tag for reaching them has occupied much of the task force's meetings in recent months.

"I get really frustrated because I'm trying to have an impact on the problem (of homelessness), but even though I keep seeing data, I can't get my arms around it," Henderson Councilman Stephen Kirk, a task force member, said.

Arent said the group will probably keep meeting while awaiting the consultant's results -- "at least to keep sharing information."