Tent city plans shorting other needy?

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Friday, June 12, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Metro Deputy Chief Gary Schofield told his officers this spring to stop their practice of running off anyone they caught trying to feed the homeless near a tent city on Foremaster Lane.

The police warnings and threats of citations had been just fine with elected officials, including Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, and area businesses, which were vexed by the homeless encampment. Tents have appeared in the area repeatedly during the past decade.

After dumping the policy of rousting the do-gooders, Schofield called for a meeting about the homeless camp, inviting dozens of private groups and public agencies, including Las Vegas Neighborhood Services, the Salvation Army, the ACLU of Nevada and churches.

The group that came together at that meeting soon chose a name that reflected an attempt to put a new face on the issue. The “Hope Corridor Alliance” was born. The area’s common name, the homeless corridor, comes from its three shelters within a three-block area.

Schofield hoped to bring as many people as possible to the table. He didn’t want the group to have leaders. He hoped the organic impetus of its participants would carry efforts forward. Last month the Hope Corridor Alliance put together its own strategic plan.

Curiously, nearly at the same time, on May 18, Las Vegas submitted its own plan to the federal government for spending most of $2.1 million in stimulus money on helping homeless people in the same tent city.

The separate plans raise the possibility that services will be needlessly duplicated, that the two efforts will trip over each other, that each will be less effective than it could have been were there more coordination.

Though Las Vegas Deputy City Manager Orlando Sanchez goes to the Hope Corridor Alliance meetings, Schofield said the city official hadn’t shown him the stimulus funding plan, which the federal Housing and Urban Development Department has yet to approve.

Las Vegas officials could not be reached for comment.

One thing is clear: A lot of time, attention and, potentially, money, are being focused on approximately 200 people, less than 2 percent of the Las Vegas Valley’s estimated homeless population of 13,300.

Of course, many of those in the tent city are chronically homeless, meaning they’ve been on the streets longer than many others and likely have mental illnesses and addictions. That means they cost valley taxpayers a lot of money in repeated visits to emergency rooms, jails and drug and alcohol centers.

And they have long frustrated Goodman, who has said he wants to force the homeless to go somewhere other than Foremaster Lane.

This has led some to wonder whether policy has been driven by frustration, including the decision to aim the stimulus millions at the corridor. National and local homelessness experts said last month that stimulus funding might not be ideal for targeting such a homeless camp because the money is for helping people into stable housing within 18 months, a short period of time for the chronically homeless.

Linda Lera-Randle El, director of Straight from the Streets, has seen tent cities on Las Vegas streets for 25 years and moved hundreds into housing. She noted that the Hope Corridor Alliance group may be well-intentioned, but “one street is not more important than others,” meaning that the same effort should be aimed at other camps scattered across the valley.

Also, she said, what happens when the stimulus money dries up? Or when Schofield no longer convenes the Hope Corridor Alliance?

Schofield said he hopes the group’s “people of good will” can push the effort forward regardless of who’s scheduling the meetings. “As long as people keep coming to the table, it should work,” he said.

Myrna Pili, director of social services at HELP of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit organization, said it’s good to see so many people together addressing a complex issue. Since the Hope Corridor Alliance plan was created, her team has been able to move 10 people into housing, she added.

But Pili said she also wonders if “good will” will be enough to keep the group together. “When the smoke clears, who’s going to be left standing? That’s the question.”