Homeless in Vegas or why the Dims don't get it.

Las Vegas may be a boomtown. But when it comes to addressing its homeless problem, the Nevada city has been something of a bust. Still, there's value in this story, because Dallas can learn from Las Vegas' mistakes.

While Southern Nevada's homeless population has grown in recent years, the commitment from local government and charities – and the general public – to meet the challenge has waned.

Southern Nevada has about 10,000 homeless people – about twice the number in the city of Dallas. Local government annually spends about $3 million, and local charities another $8 million, to serve that population. But those dollars are dwindling at a time when the needs are growing.

The metropolitan area of 1.6 million, in fact, has gotten a black eye. The National Coalition for the Homeless recently named Las Vegas the "meanest city" in America because of the city's harassment of the homeless, its frequent sweeps of homeless encampments and its overall hostile attitude toward the homeless. Ouch!

A decade ago, then-Mayor Jan Jones, working arm in arm with charitable institutions, moved a number of social service agencies along the Las Vegas-North Las Vegas border to what became known as the "homeless corridor."

For a while, the concept seemed to work. Clustered together were a 200-bed emergency shelter, a women's shelter, a crisis intervention center and a transitional housing facility.

But the corridor eventually fell apart. Some agencies became caught in a vise of dwindling support from local government and private charities and had to close. And agency infighting only exacerbated matters.

Southern Nevada leaders then responded by organizing the Homelessness Task Force, under the umbrella of a regional planning agency, to come up with a more coordinated approach. The key plank to emerge: Ask the voters to tax themselves to raise $4 million a year from property taxes.

But that effort fell apart, too, when Clark County voters responded by saying "no" – by nearly a 2-1 ratio. Homeless advocates were crushed.

Today, Clark County is trying to regroup by hiring a "homeless coordinator" to work with the six local governments in Southern Nevada. Clark County Manager Thom Riley has made fighting homelessness a higher priority; a comprehensive "needs assessment" of the problem will be completed by next year and serve as a focus for regional action.

Until then, what can Dallas learn from the Nevada town's mistakes? After all, Las Vegas seemed to follow some of the same approaches as successful cities – like clustering social service agencies and dealing with homelessness on a regional basis. Why did those other communities progress and Las Vegas falter?

Regional efforts are noteworthy, but a coordinated approach won't be productive unless there are dollars to back it up. The voters' refusal to tax themselves doomed any substantive solution.

It's no wonder the public didn't feel invested in a solution. Their political leaders' rhetoric was nothing less than irresponsible at times. During a state of the city speech, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said of the homeless: "They're raping people, they're robbing people, and they're killing their own."

Instead of inflammatory cheap shots, the electorate needs to hear what homeless programs work and why they deserve support.

An unscientific poll by the Las Vegas Review-Journal asked this question: "How should the city handle the homeless problem?" The most popular answer: "Give them bus tickets out of town." A Las Vegas businessman actually launched such an effort this summer.

When I first launched my website in 1999 I sold my belongings a traveled around the country for 10 months, the last 2 I spent on South Padre Island near Brownsville Texas. At the end of the Island there are some beautiful sand flats that can't be built on because they are so low to sea level but the owner lets any one who wants to stay there can, for free.

So during the winter months thousands of people go to the flats to camp out and enjoy the beautiful weather. The variety of people and their homes is amazing. There are 1.2 million dollar Prevosts all the way down to a one man tent. The amazing thing is every body gets along and helps every body out. Since I am a chef and my logo was blazoned on the side with my logo I became pretty popular pretty fast. Folks were always stopping by for some thing to eat and to say hello. Whether the person was rich or homeless they all had their own way of paying you back the favor.

After a while we came up with nicknames for everybody like; Rock Man, the box kids the tow guy. We ended up getting to know about 8 of the homeless folk’s real well. We heard their life stories and got to know what their lives were about.

There were two major things I learned; one they are very happy people who have chosen where they are in life and stay there by choice and secondly they know how to play the system- the homeless system. A lot of people don't know it but most homeless people migrate around the country. The go often where the weather is good and the benefits are best.

Not one homeless person I have ever met and I have honestly talked with hundreds, said to me I wish I had a house or a car or any thing else but a few bucks or some thing to eat.

Most homeless people are there by choice and they stay there by choice.

Most homeless people are there by choice and they stay there by choice.

I couldn't agree more thay have opted out of having day to day responsibilty in their lives which is fine by me just don't ask me to tax myself to pay for that lifestyle.
I just have a problem with people voting 2-1 against something and then having the author say the voters are mean and wrong.

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