Solution to chronic homelessness sought

Monday, April 11, 2005 | 10:59 a.m.

At a conference Friday on ending chronic homelessness, a federal official said that event participants stayed at one of the Las Vegas Valley's most upscale hotels the night before because it was the only one available that didn't feature gambling, offered government rates and had rooms for a large group.

Philip Mangano, executive director of the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness, also expressed concern that focusing on his agency's choice of accommodations "took credibility away" from his mission, which is to push municipalities nationwide to develop plans for ending chronic homelessness in a decade.

Southern Nevada has no such plan and instead is working on a general plan regarding homelessness that includes the chronically homeless -- but has no timeline attached to it, according to Paula Haynes-Green, regional coordinator for homeless services.

Mangano's comments about the hotel came after the Sun revealed Friday that participants in the "Western Regional Colloquy on Ending Chronic Homelessness" were staying at the Ritz-Carlton on Lake Las Vegas, a AAA five-diamond rated hotel.

Mangano said he called his staff in Washington and was told of the difficulty finding other accommodations that met the event's criteria. Government rates at the Ritz-Carlton are $122 per night.

He said that the federal agency didn't want to make reservations at a hotel with gambling because "that wouldn't be right," but also had problems finding another with the other features the agency sought.

Marina Nicola, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said this morning that "depending on availablity, there could be dozens of properties" without gambling offering government rates that could accommodate a large group.

The conference included state government officials from Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Washington -- a feat in itself, Mangano said, one that wouldn't have been possible before the Bush administration began focusing on the chronically homeless.

Most of Nevada's participants were from the Las Vegas and Clark County governments.

The event's focus, and of Mangano's agency, comes from the fact that the chronically homeless, or those who have been without housing for a year or four times in three years, tend to use much more taxpayer-funded resources while they're on the street than the rest of the homeless population.

Darryl Martin, director of Clark County Social Service, who was at Friday's event, has said in the past that about 10 percent of the valley's approximately 8,000 homeless people are chronically homeless.

At Friday's conference, guest speakers told participants about innovations ranging from linking computer data from different government agencies to better understand the homeless, to housing programs that offer services such as treatment for addictions and mental illness.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman kicked off the event by telling the audience, "I'm usually a person who jokes around -- but with homelessness and especially chronic homelessness, there's nothing to joke about."

Then he told an anecdote about a "Mr. Bevins," a chronically homeless man the mayor said he has spoken with for years. Goodman said he has offered to help the man into housing out of his own pocket, but the man always refuses.

"We can build beautiful buildings out of rubble but can we make a man stand up tall?" Goodman said.

The mayor said he hoped the conference would help answer that question.

"Hopefully tomorrow we can help Mr. Bevins off the street."

Goodman left the all-day conference shortly thereafter.

Sam Tsemberis, executive director of Pathways to Housing, one of the nation's most successful programs for the mentally ill chronically homeless, said that people such as Mr. Bevins need affordable housing with flexible, 24-hour services that include house calls.

The Las Vegas Valley has no such program.

After the conference, at about 7 p.m., Mr. Bevins was at the same spot Goodman mentioned that morning, standing next to a brimming shopping cart on Bonneville Avenue and First Street.

Asked about Goodman, the bearded, husky man started a monologue, saying that some people have told him that they heard that the two were fishing buddies, and that the two went to junior high school together.

As for Goodman's offer, he said, "I don't need no help. You can tell him and his people I'm going to California."