Regional homeless chief Haynes-Green steps down

By Timothy Pratt

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005 | 9:23 a.m.

Sixteen months ago, when the Las Vegas Valley became what experts said was the first metropolitan area in the nation to create the position of regional coordinator of homeless services, Paula Haynes-Green was told her main job was to create a plan to address homelessness.

Wednesday, six days after the finished plan was approved by a coalition of local governments, Haynes-Green stepped down.

She will be moved over to a job overseeing about $4 million the recently concluded Legislature gave to Clark County for the homeless, a first for the state, said Darryl Martin, director of Clark County Social Service.

The coordinator's salary -- $75,000 -- is paid for by area cities and the county and supervised day-to-day by the county. Haynes-Green's new salary will be about the same and will be paid for with the money awarded by the Legislature, Martin said.

He also said that about 75 percent of the state's money will go to two pilot projects -- an intensive case management team and a crisis intervention team -- and that "we have to make sure these teams are successful."

Haynes-Green will oversee the teams, as well as the other projects paid for by the money. If the pilot projects work, Martin said, the county will pay for them in the future.

But he said there is also interest in making sure that a new person is hired to fill the post of regional homeless services coordinator.

"We've made a lot of good progress and don't want to stop now -- we need a front person as a voice around the region (on homelessness)."

As for why it is necessary to create two positions -- instead of folding all the duties under one -- Martin said, "Some people may say this is just creating more bureaucracy.

"But bureaucracy is what created the $4 million in new funding. And people could argue we do too much planning, but you have to plan and it produces something."