Homeless dads with kids find help at new shelter

Monday, April 21, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.

Matthew Pacheco never imagined he would find himself living in the homeless shelter he saw being built across the street from where he went to work every day for eight months.

But there he was, suddenly a single father, jobless and homeless, all in the space of a few weeks -- just as the Las Vegas Valley's only shelter for families like his finally opened its doors.

And though the three rooms for single fathers at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission downtown opened officially only last Wednesday, Pacheco was the second to occupy one of the rooms, and a third had already asked about them by Friday.

His situation draws attention to the growing number of single fathers and their children on the streets and in the shelters of the valley, a little-known piece of the homeless puzzle.

"We definitely saw the need for this since a few years ago," said Jim Feiza, one of three case managers for the mission's new shelter, which has 152 beds for single men in addition to the wing for single fathers and their children.

"We've had guys with children coming to us for awhile and asking where they could stay, and there's not much we could tell them -- until now."

Pacheco sat on a couch in the new wing Friday and spoke about what he called the "dubious distinction" of being among the first single fathers in the shelter, as the smell of fresh paint hung in the air.

His sons, Brandon, 7, and Gage, 6, played with plastic animals and soldiers. Gage said his favorite foods were ice cream, pizza, and spaghetti and meatballs.

"I was never the type of person to make fun of homeless people and call them bums," Pacheco said.

"I would see them lining up outside every day and wonder what their stories were. I guess it's an ironic twist of fate to wind up here."

Pacheco, 37, worked across Bonanza Road from the mission at Trigen Construction Co. since last August. He and his wife and sons moved to Las Vegas nearly two years ago. They had just rented a new apartment in March.

But, Pacheco said, his wife had problems that caused Pacheco to be late for work -- when he had to take the children to school, for example. As his marriage deteriorated, Pacheco wound up missing too much work, often to take care of his sons, he said.

"Finally, the company told me, 'We're not your baby sitter and not your marriage counselor,' " he said.

"The job was the only way to pay the rent."

Pacheco stayed at a neighbor's apartment one night a week ago Friday while he got vaccine records for his sons, one of the requirements for staying at the shelter. On Saturday, he moved into the shelter.

Now he and his sons spend their days taking buses to various offices seeking public assistance and hunting down records they need to apply for services.

Pacheco hopes to obtain temporary housing with the Women's Development Center, a Las Vegas nonprofit that is one of the only other sources of help for single fathers who are homeless in the valley. The center offers housing for an average stay of nine months and help with such needs as child care and job searches.

"I've definitely been seeing an increase in need from single fathers in recent years," said Tina Prieto, director of operations for the center.

The nonprofit has seen inquiries from single fathers nearly double in the last two years alone, Prieto said.

Julia Occhiogrosso has seen a similar increase.

She is one of the directors for the Interfaith Hospitality Network, another nonprofit that offers up to three homeless families shelter in area houses of worship for up to 40 days at a time.

One single father was in her program last week and up to 15 percent of the inquiries about her program during the last year have come from single fathers, she said.

"We've come across a number of situations where we've been at a loss at how to help single dads because we've been full, so it's good the (mission's) program has come along," Occhiogrosso said.

Feiza, the mission's case manager, said Las Vegas isn't the only city with a shortage of shelter for single fathers. He recalls a phone call the mission received from a Washington Post reporter two years ago. The reporter asked about their ability to put up single fathers who were homeless.

"We had to tell him we couldn't," Feiza said. "He said he had been hearing that from other shelters across the nation."

Before taking his sons on another bus ride to another government office Friday, Pacheco said he had learned that "homelessness can happen to anyone.

"How many people live paycheck to paycheck? How many people could live for two or three months if they lost their job?"

He also said that he was trying to be as strong as possible for his sons, and that people in the offices they visited had told him more than once how well-behaved his sons were.

"Having kids," he said, "there's something to make me keep going."