Effort is afoot to help homeless beat the heat

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

T.L Freden, wiry, weathered and 70 years old, has walked to downtown Las Vegas from Henderson more than once, and he has also passed out in the street with swollen lips, all dried up and cooled off only after reaching the emergency room.

He often only drinks half the bottle of water he carries around with him because the second half gets too hot to swallow.

Standing next to Freden in a 10-foot strip of shade on Wilson Avenue behind the Las Vegas Rescue Mission on Tuesday afternoon, Jimmy Laird, 49, exclaimed the obvious but no less profound: "My God, this is a desert!"

The weather service said it was 99 degrees at the time. But the heat coming off the sun-baked blacktop just beyond Freden and Laird's swath of shade was pushing the temperature there into the triple digits. Provided by the shadows of two large pine trees on state land bordering Interstate 15, the shade claimed by Freden and Laird is "first come, first serve," said Freden, seated on a flattened cardboard box.

The two men and a half-dozen others hanging out in the area talked about what summer's advance means to the Las Vegas Valley's thousands of homeless: a mad search for water and shade; a chance that an ambulance will come for someone at any moment.

That's true every year; this summer, however, Clark County, several shelters and advocates for the homeless have cobbled together a plan that, while both they and those on the street say may not be sufficient, is at least a first-time effort to avoid grim statistics of years past.

Those statistics include five homeless people who died due to heat exposure in 2003 and seven in 2002.

This year, on June 3, 72-year-old Thomas Sullivan died on Fremont Street of heart problems that were exacerbated by heat exposure, according to the Clark County coroner's office.

The plan aimed at preventing more deaths like Sullivan's includes a daytime shelter for up to 100 men that Catholic Charities will open Thursday. Shade Tree and the Salvation Army already have daytime shelters open.

In addition, Clark County Social Service is using $75,000 in federal funds for vouchers to area motels, including Budget Suites.

"If you think about what we have this year, it is tenfold better than last year," said Thom Reilly, Clark County manager and chairman of a regional committee on homelessness.

In fact, this year's plan is the first time public and private agencies have ever worked together to try and beat the heat for people on the valley's streets, said Linda Lera-Randle El, director of Straight from the Streets, a nonprofit organization that works with the homeless.

"We didn't even used to get any acknowledgment that there was an issue for the homeless in the summer -- that 115 degree heat can kill," she said.

The plan for the summer is an outgrowth of this past winter's first-ever plan, which focused on offering nighttime shelter from the cold as opposed to daytime refuge from the heat.

Catholic Charities will open its shelter at North Main Street and West Owens Avenue from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., beginning Thursday and ending Sept. 30. The county will front the organization about $24,000 for the first month of operations and then bring the issue before the committee on homelessness and the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition in the hopes of having all local municipalities share the cost of the summer program.

The Shade Tree shelter, in the same downtown area, will be open to women and children from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day.

The Salvation Army will serve up to 200 men and women from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day during the hottest months.

A group of advocates that calls itself Southern Nevada Advocates for Homeless People has sent a proposal to Reilly that involves covering Wilson Avenue with a "tent-type canopy" that would include "a misting system, a water station and a few port-a-potties."

Reilly said "any suggestions to alleviate the problem are welcome" and that he would be meeting with the group, led by Leroy Pelton, sociology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, he said, the county will be monitoring demand for shelter from the heat in the coming weeks.

"Is this (plan) enough?" Reilly said. "I don't know if it will ever be enough. But at least we're trying to get a coordinated approach to dealing with the issue."