Volunteers to hit the streets looking for homeless

Monday, April 12, 2004 | 10:43 a.m.

Volunteers will take to the streets, parks, arroyos and freeway underpasses Tuesday to count the Las Vegas Valley's homeless population -- an essential step toward increasing the federal funds local governments receive for aid.

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly, who chairs a newly formed committee of representatives from social service organizations and municipal governments, said the census is a "critical step" toward addressing the problem of homelessness.

The committee was formed in January following the announcement by the Housing and Urban Development Department that Las Vegas Valley nonprofit organizations would receive $1.6 million in federal aid -- half the amount sought in a 2003 grant application for homeless services and outreach.

In past years the money has gone to a variety of services, including hospital beds for the mentally ill and to Shade Tree, which provides a shelter for women and children.

Two key reasons for the low funding level were that a regional homeless census had not been conducted since 1999 and area nonprofit groups did not have a computer system to track homeless who come in for help -- both HUD requirements, Reilly said.

The census will cost $26,500 to conduct and will be paid for by Clark County. The cost of the computer system, estimated at $109,000 for the first year, is being covered by various municipalities and private donations, Reilly said.

"We are well on track to complete both of those goals prior to when we have to apply for the next federal grant," Reilly said. "The computer system had been evading us as to how we were going to fund it, but the community has stepped up."

More than 250 people -- including staff and students from the sociology department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- are expected to begin counting by 11 p.m. and finish early the following morning.

Frederick Preston, a professor of sociology at UNLV who led the 1999 homeless census effort, will do the same with Tuesday's venture. He said he wasn't sure whether the final tally would be higher or lower than the 6,707 individuals counted five years ago.

What is expected, Preston said, is that people will be scattered over a larger area rather than confined primarily to the so-called "homeless corridor" near the Salvation Army shelter and the former MASH shelter downtown, in the vicinity of Las Vegas Boulevard and Owens Avenue.

"It's going to be a bit harder to count because the population is more dispersed," Preston said Friday. "It's tricky to count people who in many cases don't want to be found."

The Metro Police Department has furnished the census team with a list of locations where homeless people are known to gather. Some of sites, such as abandoned buildings, are too dangerous for team members to enter, Preston said.

"Instead of going in we'll wait for them to come out," Preston said. "There are certainly going to be members of the team up all night doing their best to count everyone who's out there."

Deni Conrad, executive director of homeless assistance group HELP of Southern Nevada, said the census would help ensure not only that the Las Vegas Valley get its fair share of federal funding but that the money is being allocated appropriately to local agencies.

The economics of the region have changed dramatically in the last five years, said Conrad, whose nonprofit organization helps the homeless and people at risk of becoming homeless find affordable housing.

"There have been huge huge layoffs nationally since 9-11, and we have a lot of people who came here thinking there would be plenty of work for them," Conrad said. "The jobs weren't here and they ended up with nowhere to go."

Longtime advocate for the homeless Linda Lera-Randle El, executive director of Straight from the Streets, said she will not be taking part in Tuesday's count.

"It seems like the homeless don't matter until HUD puts a bounty on their heads," said Lera-Randle El, whose organization does not apply for or accept government funding. "Then when the money comes down the homeless have to jump through hoops and grovel just to get pennies or substandard housing."

Lera-Randle El said she was also uncomfortable with a potential side effect of the count -- making it easier for city officials to conduct "homeless sweeps."

The so-called sweeps have occurred several times in Las Vegas in recent years, with law enforcement descending on areas with a large number of homeless people, seizing shopping carts or issuing citations for loitering or jaywalking.

"I'd have a hard time with my conscience if I identified for someone else where a homeless person find their peace and their rest in the night," Lera-Randle El said.