Valley first with regional post for homelessness

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Friday, Jan. 16, 2004 | 9:31 a.m.

The Las Vegas Valley gained a regional coordinator on homelessness Thursday, becoming the first metropolitan area in the nation to make such a move, a national group said.

The coordinator, Paula Haynes-Green, is expected to be named to help overcome one of the obstacles seen time and again in attempts to solve the growing problem of homelessness in the valley -- how to get different cities and the county to work together.

In so doing, Southern Nevada is breaking new ground, said Michael Stoops, director of community organizing for the National Coalition for the Homeless, a Washington-based nonprofit.

"There have been regional approaches in major urban areas, but this is ... the first position whose job it is to apply that approach," Stoops said.

Darryl Martin -- director of Clark County Social Service and the new coordinator's boss -- said the move is a coming of age for the valley.

"It recognizes that we're a large urban area with large urban area issues that need to be dealt with," Martin said.

The regional approach is seen in the formula for paying the new position's salary of $70,000 -- 43 percent will be paid by the county, 34 percent by Las Vegas, 13 percent by Henderson, 9 percent by North Las Vegas and 1 percent by Boulder City. The formula comes from each municipality's population relative to the valley's population as a whole.

Haynes-Green was chosen from a field of 70 candidates who responded to a national search. Her most recent job was site director for US Vets, a Las Vegas nonprofit that gives housing and other services to veterans. She has also worked in city, state and federal government.

To Linda Lera-Randle El -- director of Straight from the Streets, a nonprofit that works with the homeless and a member of the committee that interviewed candidates for the position -- hiring someone with private and public sector experience was important.

"This is a person who needs to help governments figure out what they're doing ... and it helps that she also has hands-on experience," Lera-Randle El said.

Reilly said the coordinator, who begins work in February, will also be expected to bring new federal dollars to Southern Nevada for helping the valley's estimated 10,000 homeless people.

"If you look at what has happened in the past, there have been missed opportunities (for funding) -- including for indigent health and housing," he said.

In late December, it was learned that the Department of Housing and Urban Development only gave $1.6 million of $3 million requested by a coalition of groups to help the homeless -- a major blow to nonprofits that work with the issue.

The county manager also said he hopes the coordinator can get more members of the local business community involved in addressing homelessness.

Any way you look at it, the coordinator comes to her job with a full plate, Lera-Randle El said.

"People are going to look for her to do a great deal of things in an unreasonable amount of time," she said.

"But we also have to hold her feet to the fire."