Local struggle continues for homeless grants

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Monday, Jan. 26, 2004 | 9:14 a.m.

Recent fallout from this year's disastrous regional application for federal funds to help the homeless continued last week, as public and private officials who work with the issue scrambled to avoid losing more ground on upcoming 2004 grants.

The controversy has grown since Housing and Urban Development announced in late December that the region would receive only $1.6 million for local nonprofits, half of what was sought on the 2003 application.

In two meetings Thursday, however, it became clear that funding was still lacking for reaching two goals needed to improve the region's performance this year -- a shared computer system in place at nonprofits across Las Vegas Valley, and a census of the homeless.

Both are federal requirements; together, they could cost more than $400,000.

"It's very important to know how many people you're serving, who they are, and what their needs are," said Shawna Parker Brody, analyst for Clark County Community Resources Management and author of the yearly grant.

"And we don't."

The need to change how the region seeks funds from the federal government has become clearer in recent weeks, as HUD criticism of the 2003 application has filtered down to local governments and the nonprofits that apply for funds each year.

HUD gives points to regional applications around the nation based on aspects such as long-term strategies to combat homelessness and data on the local homeless population.

Local governments and nonprofits are appealing HUD's 2003 response, but officials from the federal agency said in December interviews that such appeals have never prospered in the past.

Parker Brody spread the word about the need to improve this year's performance at an ad hoc meeting Thursday set up to plan a census before the April or May deadline for the HUD grants. She also addressed the recently created regional committee on homeless issues, mostly made up of higher administrative employees of the different municipalities.

County Manager Thom Reilly, who chairs the regional committee, said that last year's results could not be repeated in 2004.

"We cannot go another year with losing that amount of money," Reilly said. "And we won't."

Reilly said the committee will develop a "comprehensive, prioritized look at what is needed" to improve this year's application at its February meeting.

He hopes that recent successes forged by the committee -- including hiring the nation's first regional coordinator on homelessness and developing a plan for emergency winter shelter -- could be built on to pitch the need for funding at least part of the computer system to the valley's municipalities in late February.

Parker Brody said nonprofits balked at the idea of helping fund the computer system at a meeting earlier this week.

The computer system, like the census, has been a HUD requirement for several years.

Local nonprofits, which offer suggestions on the annual grant to a committee set up by the Southern Nevada Homeless Coalition, actually sought funding for the system -- nearly $390,000 -- from HUD in last year's application. But they placed it last on their list of priorities, reasoning that services were needed more than computers.

The application's disastrous results included zero funding for the system.

The census, on the other hand, would mostly rely on volunteers. A 1999 census was done with 214 volunteers and $50,000 in public funds paid to University of Nevada, Las Vegas sociology professors, who analyzed the data. The current effort may cost half as much, since it would include less analysis, Parker Brody said.

Committee members also suggested that future applications for federal funding involve local governments and affordable housing developers. Currently, the application is almost entirely driven by nonprofits, though Parker Brody, a county employee, writes the grant.

"We could dramatically restructure the process," said Sabra Smith, who works on homeless issues for the city of Las Vegas.

Thursday's meetings and other recent events make one thing clear: private and public officials in Southern Nevada will approach seeking federal funds to help the homeless differently in the future.

"HUD's intentions are that we change the way we do business," Parker Brody said.

"Status quo means no more funding."