Editorial: Homeless are viewed with apathy

Friday, Dec. 26, 2003 | 3:51 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

Dec. 27 - 28, 2003

Four years ago politicians and candidates were talking nonstop about their ability to lead us into the 21st century. Here in Southern Nevada, despite scandals involving a few of them, government leaders have succeeded at least modestly. Problems, such as with downtown redevelopment and finances at University Medical Center, are being addressed. At the state level, the governor and a majority of legislators were bloodied this year in a fight over taxes, but emerged with enough of a victory to preserve many vital programs. Preparedness in the face of worldwide terrorism is getting better. For the majority of Nevadans, life goes on with reason for optimism. On the issue of homelessness, however, local political leaders have not even begun to live up to their promise.

Since the new century began, indifference has been the official theme around here toward the men, women and children whose circumstances landed them in the streets. The ultimate indifference is the policy, egged on by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, of sweeping groups of homeless people from one area of town to another in an endless cycle of pain and suffering. Our local governments are essentially saying, "We don't care what happens to these people as long as they are out of our sight."

As bad as it's been, the prospects for 2004 are even worse for the homeless. Las Vegas Valley governments, which had cooperated on an application for federal funds for homeless programs, just got word that they would receive only about half of what they applied for. The regional funding application asked for $3 million, based on the local homeless population of about 10,000 people. The Housing and Urban Development Department granted $1.6 million.

The application was halved because it did not sufficiently address the Bush administration's plan for reducing homelessness through low-cost housing. A lot of the failure of this application can be laid at the feet of our local government leaders. Instead of making this application a priority, it was farmed out to consultants, who applied for only $3 million when they could have applied for $4.2 million. Local government leaders, knowing of Bush's priorities, should have more competently overseen the application to ensure it was tailored to the latest federal thinking. Additionally, area homeless programs are handled by nonprofit groups, with very little involvement from local government. They would fail outright without the scant amount of federal and state money that comprises most of their budgets. Their programs are generally well run, but they are woe fully short of the need. This will continue to be the case, until our local governments show some leadership on this issue.