Coalition has big plans for homeless money

Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005 | 7:36 a.m.

It appears that winter's approach is not chilling efforts to help those on the streets.

At a monthly meeting Tuesday of the Southern Nevada Homeless Coalition, a group of more than 30 public and private agencies that work with the homeless, the agenda included talk of spending an unprecedented state-awarded $4.2 million on the homeless.

The Clark County Commission is expected to vote Oct. 18 on a contract to spend the money on various projects.

At least six nonprofit agencies will be splitting that money under the contract to be discussed next week. The emphasis of their work will be putting professionals on the street to work one-on-one with the homeless, a need identified several times in recent years by advocates.

The money will pay for pilot projects that will run until July 2007 and then be evaluated for possible future funding.

At Tuesday's meeting, the Homeless Coalition members also talked about a new group in town providing short-term housing for 10 single women, a county effort to line up additional shelter for about 300 people for the coming winter and two high-profile positions that should soon be filled.

The county is searching for a new regional homeless services coordinator, and Metro Police administrators are hiring a liaison with the homeless.

When Paula Haynes-Green was hired as the county's homeless services coordinator in January 2004, national experts on the homeless said they believed the position was unique.

Haynes-Green stepped down in August to dedicate her time exclusively to monitoring the projects paid for by the $4.2 million.

Similarly, when Metro announced its intentions to hire a liaison in June, the move was lauded as singular nationwide. Candidates from coast to coast are still being evaluated for each position, coalition members said.

Recent efforts by Clark County Social Services to help what interim director Nancy McLane said were 3,900 Katrina survivors in recent weeks was seen as positive for the homeless, since it has showed agencies in the valley "what we're capable of," said the Rev. Charles Bowker, coalition chairman.

McLane also said it was "too soon to tell what the impact (of helping people fleeing the Gulf Coast) will be on services (to Clark County residents)."

Advocate Frank Perna noted that the county's efforts to help Katrina survivors, while laudable, should be applied to local needs.

"If we can do things so fast for them, then why not for the homeless?" he asked.

And when the coalition discussed the group's pending transformation into a nonprofit organization -- a move that will allow the group to apply for grants and accept donations -- several members wondered aloud if the change would benefit member agencies, which include large and small nonprofit organizations.

Questions were asked about how any grant money would be split up among member organizations and how the money would be monitored.

Roy Porter, who works in the Las Vegas office of the Housing and Urban Development Department, said the coalition for years has been like "a bunch of mice gnawing away" at the issue of homelessness, whereas becoming a nonprofit will help it attract "fat cats."

Timothy Pratt can be reached at (702) 259-8828 or timothy@lasvegassun.com.