New panel hopes to bring more money for homeless

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2004 | 9:18 a.m.

A committee of public and private officials who work with the homeless -- or could -- was set up Wednesday to drive annual requests for up to $4 million in federal funds.

The committee of 18 -- including local and state governments -- came out of a recently created task force on the issue chaired by Clark County Manager Thom Reilly.

Its setup was in line with recent efforts to put more control over bringing federal dollars into the hands of local governments working together -- and less in the hands of nonprofit groups working in isolation, Reilly said.

"We need to have input from the nonprofits because they're on the front lines," he said. "But we want to get to the point where we can say, 'This is our plan, and whatever you propose has to fit into it.' "

The committee will decide what the Las Vegas Valley's needs are when it comes to reducing homelessness. The committee hopes to avoid the region's disastrous performance on the 2003 application to the Housing and Urban Development Department.

The region received only $1.6 million to help the homeless from that application, or about half of what was sought.

Part of the reason for those results was that the region lacked a census of the homeless and a computer system for keeping track of who they are and what services they use -- both HUD requirements. Both projects are also moving along with local funding, Reilly said.

Paula Haynes-Green, who was recently hired as the area's -- and the nation's -- first regional homeless coordinator, said the new committee will start work as soon as possible to evaluate the region's needs for the 2004 application, which HUD will release in the coming months.

But she said some of the attributes she thought would be worth funding include programs that:

The new setup -- with a committee guiding the process, working to get local governments behind the application -- could take some getting used to, Haynes-Green said.

"It could be somewhat of a surprise to those who are used to working alone," she said.

"But the best (applications to the federal government) are those where there is more control, not where we're reacting to situations as they come up."