Valley agencies feel shortchanged on federal funds for homeless

By Timothy Pratt

Friday, Dec. 26, 2003 | 11:34 a.m.

Local governments were awarded only half the federal funding they said they needed to help the valley's homeless this fiscal year, so they are appealing the allocation.

Clark County and Las Vegas officials decided to appeal Monday because the Department of Housing and Urban Development said it would provide about $1.6 million for homeless programs to local agencies, instead of the $3 million requested.

Bridget Claridy, former chairwoman of a committee from the Southern Nevada Homeless Coalition that gives information to groups interested in the funds, said HUD's announcement was "a blow to the community ... (and) an extreme disappointment."

The cut for Southern Nevada came as HUD was announcing it was giving a "record $1.27 billion" nationwide.

The reason, said John Garrity, head of HUD homeless assistance programs, can be traced to a shift in federal policy. The Bush administration has been pushing its goal of ending so-called chronic homelessness in the next decade by emphasizing housing over services.

Southern Nevada's overall application scored low, Garrity said. He said he couldn't discuss the application in detail, as that will be part of the appeal process. But he did say more weight was given to housing than in previous years, and Southern Nevada's application lacked proposals for housing.

Shawna Parker, management analyst for Clark County community resources management and the lead technical adviser to the regional funding application, said local officials decided to appeal the decision because they were "worried about keeping programs going in the community."

Parker, who has worked on the applications since 1996, said she had never seen Southern Nevada appeal a HUD funding decision until now.

Between one and three communities nationwide appeal the agency's decisions every year, Garrity said. There were about 500 applications this year, he said.

As for the fate of previous appeals: "To my knowledge, none has been successful," Garrity said.

Parker said a first draft of the local application came in with about 17 percent of its proposals dedicated to housing, but that was raised to about 50 percent.

"Our process is nonprofit-driven ... and if we keep telling them to develop more housing and they don't step to the plate, there's nothing we can do," she said.

Parker also said she felt that many local programs help the chronically -- or long-term -- homeless, but with local and state funds. Plus, she said, the chronically homeless "only make up between 20 and 30 percent of the homeless population."

"Our focus ... was on helping a good 80 percent of the population," she said.

Brian Sullivan, HUD spokesman in Washington, said he realizes that the Bush administration's emphasis on housing seems to be "stealing from Peter to pay Paul." But the federal government funds lots of services for the homeless, he said, and is seeking to support housing "because of the need."

The news on the lack of funds for the homeless came months after it was revealed that the region could have asked for up to $4.2 million, but a consultant hired to help with the application failed to see that number on HUD's website. Parker was on maternity leave at the time, but said she returned to work and reviewed the application for its overall approach shortly before sending it to the federal government in June.

"I didn't think it was off base at all," she said.

Parker will ask for a detailed breakdown of HUD's response to the region's application this week. The federal agency then has 30 days to respond. Garrity said HUD would make a decision on the appeal within another 30 days.

HUD's announcement on funding said it would support six Las Vegas projects for one year each that had received money in previous years -- and not support three projects that were seeking money for the first time.

Of the projects that got funding, Nevada's Mental Health Division got the most, with nearly $633,000 going to 80 beds for the mentally ill. Second was the Shade Tree, a shelter for women and children, with $302,000.

Those projects that didn't get funding included one to help homeless teens and another to create a database for allowing most nonprofit groups in the valley that help the homeless to keep track of who uses their services and what works to get them off the streets.

Such a database -- called the Homeless Management Information System -- must be in place for all agencies that work with the homeless nationwide by October 2004 for HUD to continue funding them. But HUD decided not to fund the database locally, and now Parker will be scrambling to find other funds for the project, she said.

Of nine projects listed on the application, the database was named as the least important, Parker said. A committee of community members -- including businesses, banks and the homeless or formerly homeless -- made this decision, she said, because "they didn't see it as directly helping the homeless."

Garrity said Southern Nevada would still have to come up with the database, which he said was important for local communities to know what works for the homeless and for the federal government to know if funds are being well-spent.

The federal official also said the agency continued funding for the six projects that were already up and running because "we make a special effort to not close the doors on the homeless."

He also said his agency would consider Southern Nevada's position in the coming weeks.

"We'll look at the facts and consider the appeal," he said.09