Stand Down underscores need for IDs for homeless

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

Homeless people on the streets of Las Vegas are held back by citations for petty offenses and a lack of identification, twin problems that were highlighted at the 12th annual Stand Down for the Homeless Wednesday.

In response to the first problem, five judges from three area courts were at the daylong event and offered an amnesty of sorts for warrants based on citations ranging from begging on the streets to driving without a license.

The line for the courts stretched into the hundreds throughout the day. The judges' lines are traditionally the longest in an event that offers everything from checkups to haircuts for homeless men, women and children.

For the other main problem for the homeless, however, no help was available -- a fact underscored by the hundreds of homeless men and women who went from booth to booth at the fair-like event asking who could help with getting state IDs, birth certificates or other documents.

Linda Lera-Randle El, who worked a booth for the nonprofit organization she directs -- Straight from the Streets -- said 90 percent of the approximately 1,000 people she saw asked about help with identification.

She said that other, larger organizations -- hers receives no government funds and is maintained by volunteers -- do not build into their budgets money to pay for birth certificates, replacement driver's licenses, nor they do have computers to help the homeless research how to recover lost documents.

So the need goes unmet.

Brian Brooks, chairman of the event's organizing committee, said, "It would be a good thing if somebody figured out how to get funding" to help thousands of homeless people in the valley get identification.

"You can't a job without ID or with a warrant," he said.

The event, held at Cashman Center, drew an estimated 2,340 people, about 150 less than 2003.

Thousands had arrest warrants quashed.

Alternate Las Vegas Municipal Judge Dayvid Figler said he and other judges from North Las Vegas and District Court were there to help men and women who are "living in the shadow of a possible arrest."

Figler said spending a day dealing only with the homeless allowed judges to give them "more individual attention," a statement borne out by questions he asked in his makeshift courtroom about each person's family life and searches for jobs and housing.

He said the hundreds of cases he saw were mostly unpaid tickets that had snowballed into arrest warrants.

"Often, the reason they don't have a job is because there's a bench warrant for their arrest, and they also don't want to go to court because they're afraid they'll be arrested," Figler said.

Maurice Butler, 45, stood in line outside Figler's courtroom with a warrant stemming from a $280 ticket he received when he ran a light that he said was yellow but a police officer said was red.

"I didn't have no $280," he said.

Shortly after getting the ticket in July, he said he took a day off due to a case of bronchitis, which then resulted in losing his food delivery job. Without a job, he soon became homeless.

Butler said he hoped getting the warrant taken care of would make it easier to find a job and get off the streets.

"I need a job to get out of homelessness," he said.

Over at the Stand Down's job fair, Will Lockheart, an employer consultant for the state Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation said he had 14 tables manned by mostly government and nonprofit agencies when the event opened at 8 a.m..

By mid-day, nine of those agencies had left the event, but the remaining tables were still a buzz of activity. They were surrounded by men and women hoping that a paycheck lay in their future.

Lockheart said organizing his part of the event was challenging, noting that he had contacted more than 100 employers about participating. The private sector was particularly hesitant about answering his call, Lockheart said.

"It's very difficult to get employers to hire the homeless," he said.

"They have misconceptions about the homeless, and don't see homeless women, children and families," he said.

He said he had seen people on the street with "excellent credentials" who couldn't find a job.

The event has been considered the largest of its kind nationally for 12 years, according to national groups that work with the homeless.

Brooks said the slight drop in numbers from last year might reflect a trend in recent years where the homeless population has moved out of the downtown area to other parts of the valley, in part because of police sweeps.

"They're spread out all over the valley," he said.

"If they're farther away, it's harder for them to make it here."