Homeless program missing mark

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006 | 7:44 a.m.

Nearly 18 months after its launch, a $1.5-million program to help the Las Vegas Valley's mentally ill homeless people get off the street has not housed a single person.

Officials from the state and county agencies running the program insist, however, that they are trying to move the program along.

The state mental health agency director said it is discouraging to see how long the county housing authority has taken to process applications. A housing authority official, though, said she would like to see more people apply.

Officials from both agencies stressed that it is difficult to work with the estimated 3,000 mentally ill people on the valley's streets.

JoAnn Lujan, social services director for HELP of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit agency that oversees the valley's largest project to help the homeless, said it was "amazing" that the program has not progressed.

"We didn't even know about it," she said.

Lujan, whose agency oversees seven organizations implementing a $3-million project to house the valley's chronically homeless population, said that about 80 percent of the 144 people in that project may be mentally ill.

"There's a great need" for housing and treating the mentally ill, she said.

The stalled program was meant to be a model when Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services and the Clark County Housing Authority signed off on it in August 2004.

The Sun reported in September that the program had been held up by bureaucratic tangles such as the two agencies taking 10 months to draw up and sign a contract.

The idea was to get the homeless into housing and then offer them services to deal with underlying conditions -- in this case, mental illness -- leading to a life on the street.

The $1.5 million comes from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department, with most of the money to go for vouchers that the mentally ill could use to pay up to two years' worth of rent. The housing subsidy is capped at 70 percent of a maximum $728 in monthly rent, according to Nancy Wesoff, the Housing Authority's director of operations.

A small portion of the funds was intended for the general homeless population.

Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services is supposed to locate mentally ill people and refer them to the Housing Authority. The county agency processes applications and issues the vouchers. The mental health agency is charged with offering ongoing treatment to program participants after they move into housing.

The $1.5 million is enough to handle 74 participants.

As of Tuesday, the mental health agency had referred only 22 people to the Housing Authority -- none of whom had been housed.

Of those, one person has had a voucher since December but has not yet found an apartment at the price that the Housing Authority can pay, Wesoff said. Seven others have been approved and will get vouchers within about a week. Five have appointments Jan. 19. Five who were no-shows or did not supply needed paperwork did not qualify, and four have not yet turned in their paperwork.

"This is a tough population to work with," Wesoff said. "They're inconsistent, as far as coming in with documents, making appointments."

But Wesoff said she believes the program is "making progress," adding that she would like to see more people apply.

"We can only work with what we have," she said.

Jonna Triggs, director of Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, said the program has been "frustrating for our staff."

"I'm concerned about people not getting placed," Triggs said. "If changes can't be made to streamline the process, the program won't be useful."

One change has been made since September: Applicants can be placed in housing before criminal background checks are completed.

HELP's Lujan said the program should be "opened up" to other agencies -- at least as far as locating participants.

"The community's not being educated about what's available," Lujan said.

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