MASH application raises questions

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Tuesday, May 28, 2002 | 10:55 a.m.

The application by the Rev. Joe Carroll's MASH Village to renew a federal grant for providing local homeless services next year -- when the nonprofit plans to leave Las Vegas this fall -- has raised eyebrows in county offices and among homeless advocates.

But an official who oversees the federal program says Carroll may actually be doing the city and county a favor by locking in money that could later be turned over to another agency to run the city-owned shelter when Carroll's group leaves.

But the slate of grants has local officials and homeless advocates wondering what will really happen to the money and asking if more oversight is needed.

"This situation has a few of us scratching our heads," said Douglas Bell, director of Clark County Community Resources Management, whose agency provides assistance to the community-based committee that evaluates the grant proposals.

The committee meets Wednesday to review the proposals, which must be sent to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development by June 21.

Carroll and his company, SVDP Management, based in San Diego, announced in late March they would pull out of MASH Village in six months, saying the federal grant and other funds they received were not enough to keep the program afloat.

But when the 2003 applications to HUD were presented at a regional task force on homelessness meeting last week, Carroll's company was on the list.

"A lot of people are wondering how this whole thing is possible," Shawna Parker, analyst for Community Resources Management, said.

Martin Mitchell, field officer for HUD in Phoenix, said that Carroll was actually doing a favor for the city.

MASH Village is the only agency that can get the grant renewed, rather than starting from scratch with a new application. HUD can then amend the grant to have another agency do the work and get the money, he said.

"So by them doing the work to make a new application, they're actually doing everybody a favor, while the city goes through the process of finding a new operator at the site," he said.

Carroll asks for $1.57 million of an estimated $3 million to be granted for the city's shelters over two years, the same amount MASH Village received for 2001-2003. In the past two years the funds supported 25 percent of the site's programs for the homeless.

But some advocates said it was unclear whether the federal money would stay in Las Vegas.

"Can these funds follow Father Joe to San Diego, or will they be transferred to someone chosen by the city to operate the program?" said Linda Lera Randle-El, director of Straight from the Streets, a homeless outreach program.

Carroll, reached in San Diego, said he intends the money to stay in Las Vegas and will work with whoever gets the city contract to run the shelter to ensure a smooth transition.

Adding to the confusion is the discovery that MASH Village did not provide all of the services it said it would in its current grant.

"They cut back services in transitional housing and for women even before the original grant was announced back in 2001," Parker said.

HUD didn't find out about the cutbacks until late last year, and because of limited staffing it hasn't pursued any action.

"We were going to look into the situation in a timely manner," Mitchell said.

That should become easier now that a HUD employee has been assigned to Las Vegas in recent months.