Are we helping the homeless enough? Buer says more needs to be done

Brother David Buer

Friday, May 3, 2002 | 3:27 a.m.

David Buer is a Franciscan brother and director of Poverello House, a daytime hospitality house for homeless men.

During the last 15 years the Las Vegas Valley has experienced tremendous economic growth and our population increase is at the fastest rate in the country. At the same time, meeting the needs of our homeless brothers and sisters continues to challenge us.

Those of us who live here know that, despite our "Sin City" reputation, we are family-orientated. Newcomers soon realize how seriously we take the 15-25 mph speed limits in front of our schools, to protect the children. The large number of Mormons, Catholics and Jews who live here are reflected by many public officials from those faiths. Many other faith communities, large and small, flourish here.

The last three Las Vegas mayoral administrations have focused on the needs of the homeless community, often working with the existing faith-based service providers. In the mid-1980s homeless services were moved from the downtown area to the northern edge of the Las Vegas city limits around Main Street and Owens Avenue. Homeless services were consolidated there over the next few years.

In the early 1990s Mayor Jan Jones invited the community to dream about a 1,000-bed facility that would provide emergency shelter to men, women and children until they could be moved on to independent living. This dream became MASH Village, opening in 1995. But from the beginning MASH had its opponents and lack of funding. Before its doors were opened and before the Rev. Joe Carroll's organization was invited to run it, MASH's original concept was reduced by two-thirds.

In the mid-1990s Catholic Charities began planning its own new campus in three phases, including a new dining room and shelter. The third and final phase will be completed this summer, providing more than 800 beds on site, including work-program beds, free emergency beds and beds for $5 a night.

As is well known now, because of the 18 months of construction beginning in March 2001, 175 free beds were lost, 50 to 75 $5 beds were lost and 100 work-program beds were lost. This has had a dramatic effect on the number of homeless men in the streets. The 49 beds added at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission and the expanded operation of the MASH tent has helped, but those gains were offset by the unexpected closing of more than 100 beds at the Salvation Army in September because of funding shortfalls.

So Mayor Oscar Goodman, when he was elected in 1999, inherited a complicated homeless situation. He has worked with the Southern Nevada Homeless Coalition and had the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition address the homeless issue, which led to the Homeless Summit.

Despite the ongoing dialogue, his policies, using the city marshals and Metro Police, have been harsh and heavy-handed toward the homeless. Beginning in 1999, under his leadership, Las Vegas closed two public parks to the homeless. One park had been used for more than eight years by the Catholic Workers to feed the hungry with dignity. Volunteers included church people, college students, casino owners, a U.S. senator and a former Nevada governor. One day in September 1999 the Catholic Workers were told by the city marshals not to return to the park because by feeding the homeless they were ruining the good work of the marshals!

When hundreds more of the homeless ended up on the streets as the Catholic Charities construction began, the streets became harsher. Rather than encourage other shelters to open, the response from Mayor Goodman was to keep removing the homeless from their encampments. This happened in dramatic fashion at the end of June with the closing of Tent City along the railroad tracks near the Salvation Army and this year on Palm Sunday at Foremaster Lane and Main Street and at the empty lot along Washington Boulevard behind Bunker Mortuary. The recent removal of a much-needed portable restroom by Las Vegas officials only underlines the harshness of current policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union, community activists, law school professors, service providers and the homeless themselves have taken to federal court their case that the constitutional rights of the homeless are being violated as they merely try to live.

It should be added that the hearts of many citizens of the Las Vegas Valley have gone out to the homeless on the streets battling the elements. Donated freely were dozens of tents, hundreds of sleeping bags, thousands of blankets and tens of thousands of meals prepared with love. Linda Lera Randl-El has spearheaded outreach efforts with the homeless in encampments in and outside of the homeless corridor.

In addition to shelter shortages, there has been a shortage of detox facilities and facilities for gambling addicts. It is imperative that casinos do their fair share. In a community dominated by the casino industry, there should be adequate services for the "losers." The winners get their faces on billboards. The losers have been dealt the stern faces of the city marshals and Metro saying "move along." Since the 1980s there has been no expansion of detox facilities. The same 20 to 25 beds are filled every night. This has affected the emergency rooms of nearby hospitals.

Along with first-rate entertainment should be first-rate facilities for the homeless and those with addictions. It has been suggested that Boulder City would be an ideal location for a facility for gambling addicts. With Father Joe Carroll leaving the MASH facility, perhaps that could serve as a detox facility with enough beds for all those who are publicly inebriated. Instead of the service providers competing for the same small pool of funding, there should be adequate funding for shelter beds for all those who seek it, as well as for the live-in work programs run by the reliable charities.

The time is now for the Las Vegas Valley community to commit itself to building the social services necessary for any large American city, especially one that makes most of its livelihood from the gambling industry. Now is the time for entertainers, community leaders, politicians and the megacasinos to lend their support to building the infrastructure necessary for the fastest growing city in the United States.