Conference on homelessness held in style

Friday, April 8, 2005 | 10:57 a.m.

A party of 16 in town today for a federal agency-hosted conference on ending chronic homelessness is staying at one of the Las Vegas Valley's most exclusive hotels and using a limousine shuttle to and from the conference.

The event, called the "Western Regional Colloquy on Ending Chronic Homelessness," features the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness, which is pushing to get the chronically homeless off the streets. A person is considered chronically homeless if they have been without housing for a year or four times in three years.

A clerk confirmed that 16 participants in the conference, including officials from the federal agency, were staying at the Ritz-Carlton on Lake Las Vegas, a AAA five-diamond rated hotel, according to its Web site.

Lake Las Vegas was also named "best place to go when price is no object" in a recent local poll.

Materials from one of the event's participants say they will obtain "government rates" at the hotel for the event, or $122 per night, and that "Celebrity Coaches of America" will provide shuttle service to and from the lake.

Celebrity Coaches offers a "fleet of executive style limousine coaches," according to its Web site.

An employee at Celebrity Coaches said transporting about 15 people between Lake Las Vegas and downtown Las Vegas would cost about $600 plus gratuity.

When the Sun called to ask about the accomodations chosen for the event, Eduardo Cabrera, a regional coordinator for the federal agency, hung up the phone.

The event, which will be held at the Holsum lofts at 241 W. Charleston Blvd., features public and private agencies from nine Western states.

For several years, Philip Mangano, executive director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, has been the point man on the issue, pushing municipalities nationwide to develop 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness.

The Las Vegas Valley is still lacking such a plan, though a regional committee is developing a plan on homelessness in general.

Mangano, together with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, will kick off today's event.

The event was not well-publicized and it is unclear who from the local arena was expected to attend. A federal spokeswoman said Wednesday the event was to be closed to the press, though that decision was reversed Thursday.

Paula Haynes-Green, regional coordinator of homeless services, said several county officials were expected to attend, but she didn't know who else was invited. Haynes-Green is supervised by the county but her salary is paid by all area municipalities.

Mangano's agency sent out a press release on the event Wednesday.

The City of Las Vegas sent out another release late Thursday afternoon as "host" of the event.

Las Vegas spokeswoman Diana Paul said other area municipalities including Henderson and North Las Vegas were invited, but she did not know when those invitations were sent or if those municipalities would attend.

Representatives from Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Washington were scheduled to attend.

Mangano and Goodman spoke at a statewide event on the same issue in June, 2004.

At the time, Darryl Martin, director of Clark County Social Service -- the main public agency valley-wide when it comes to the homeless -- said that the chronically homeless make up an estimated 10 percent of the area's homeless population.

The emphasis on that population comes from the notion that the chronically homeless, though small in number, often require large investments of resources, since the problems that have kept them on the street are complex and numerous.

Haynes-Green said Las Vegas has committed to developing a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness that could then be folded into the larger plan she is working on for the regional committee, but she has only seen an outline of the city's plan.

As for the confusion surrounding today's event, she said, "I try to keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening with this issue, but it's not always possible."