County debates indigent housing problem

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Monday, Oct. 6, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.

After suffering a heart attack six months ago, Ricky Alexander said he thanked God when he got off the streets and into housing.

But Alexander soon found himself listening to an air conditioner leak in the bathroom, chasing down roaches and breathing in mold.

The 49-year-old former casino porter became one of an unknown number of homeless and low-income people who look to Clark County for help getting on their feet through short-term vouchers to pay for affordable housing, only to find that the housing is substandard and sometimes even dangerous.

"It's a tough situation that needs to be looked at, and somebody needs to be monitoring," said Bertha Warrick, assistant director for Clark County Social Service.

The problem is, nobody is charged with monitoring the landlords who rent to tenants enrolled in the county's program -- 401 landlords in the fiscal year that ended June 23, Warrick said. Social Service wrote nearly 12,000 checks for a total of $3.75 million during that period, helping thousands of people to get into housing.

But they can only monitor the apartments when there's a complaint.

The Las Vegas Department of Neighborhood Services can go in and shut down low-income housing participating in the county's program when it is in violation of health and safety codes -- but they, too, only find out about those violations when there are complaints.

With only one of 12 code enforcement officers working full time on rental housing for the entire city, the division does not have the ability to inspect apartments, Manager Dave Semenza said.

"We're complaint-driven ... and I'm sure there's a lot of people that don't complain," Semenza said. Making matters worse, many of the landlords who accept the county's vouchers, worth $369 a month for singles, live out of state and many managers don't do much more than collect the rent, he said.

Poor tenants don't complain because they're afraid to lose what little they have, said Linda Lera-Randle El, director of Straight for the Streets, a nonprofit that works with the homeless.

"It's difficult to find housing for $369, and once they get it they don't want to make waves," she said at a meeting last week of the citizen's advisory committee for Social Service, where the issue was discussed.

The county gives the $369 vouchers to individuals who meet low-income requirements and $497.50 a month for two people, Warrick said. Clients find the housing themselves, though the county can help with suggestions or make calls if a client is disabled.

Tenants are encouraged to get on their feet in 30 days, but can have their case evaluated anew each month. If evidence is presented that they are looking for work, unable to work or soon to receive other benefits that will enable them to pay rent, then the county's help may be extended, Warrick said.

Alexander spent six months in the program and moved into a better apartment just two weeks ago, soon after getting approved for the Social Security disability benefits.

He remembered the months he endured in the downtown motel Friday in a phone call from his new apartment.

"I went to tell the manager about the leak in the bathroom and she gave me a bucket and a mop," he said. "She said somebody would be by to fix it, but no one ever came.

Alexander said he didn't want to complain. "It easy for them to make money off of somebody who is getting off the streets,"he said.

"I wouldn't say anything bad or rock the boat," he said.

Lera-Randle El, who worked with Alexander's case, is trying to find landlords who will accept the county's money for four other tenants still living in the same motel. She didn't want the motel's name mentioned.

She also said she had at least 20 other cases this year where people getting financial assistance from the county wound up in substandard housing and had to be relocated.

Semenza said his agency worked with agencies like the county fire department, health district and building department to shut down two complexes in the last six months. They included about 40 units at the 9th Street Hotel downtown and about 130 units at the Clarkdale Arms on Wengert Avenue and Clifford Street. Violations included sagging floors, a lack of smoke detectors, insect infestations, leaks, drugs and prostitution.

The official said that the city gives a 30-day notice to all tenants and assists them in obtaining any services that can help with finding somewhere else to live. Some people don't want to go, however.

"Many times they feel they have nowhere else to go -- like this is the best they can get," he said.

Semenza said other communities nationwide charge landlords a fee to finance annual inspections.

"But that is the sort of tax nobody wants to pay," he said.

Meanwhile, many formerly homeless people edging their way back into society try to make the best of a first step.

"A person coming out of the streets, they'll take anything you give them," Alexander said.

"A door and a roof, that was good to me.

"But it could be better."