LAS VEGAS SUN
Tents line the sidewalk at a homeless encampment on Foremaster Lane between Las Vegas Boulevard North and Main Street.
Friday, Jan. 31, 2020 | 12:18 p.m.
The penalty aspect of Las Vegas’ homeless ordinance, making it a misdemeanor to sit, sleep or do similar activities in most public rights-of-way, goes into effect Saturday with little expected impact on service organizations for the homeless.
Approved by the Las Vegas City Council in November, the ordinance bans sleeping, camping, resting and sitting throughout downtown and in most surrounding neighborhoods as well as near residences and food processing facilities. The ban became law on Nov. 10, but camping and sleeping activities will only now be classified as a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $1,000 or up to six months in jail.
Offenders will be encouraged to move to a shelter prior to being cited. The ordinance will be enforced during hours when there are beds available at shelters within city limits.
Shelters have already begun communicating with the city about how many beds are unclaimed on a given night, said Las Vegas’ director of community services Kathi Thomas-Gibson. She has not heard of impacts or changes taking place at shelters due to the ordinance.
“The shelters will communicate with our office, and we’ll communicate with Metro,” said Thomas-Gibson, who oversees the city’s Courtyard Homeless Resource Center on Foremaster Lane.
Shelters identified in the ordinance have agreed to comply with the notification process, Thomas-Gibson said. These include the Courtyard, the Las Vegas Rescue Mission and publicly funded emergency shelters in the city’s jurisdiction. (The Courtyard is not technically a shelter, but a covered, open-air facility with sleeping mats.)
The ordinance has been criticized by people who have experienced homelessness and some homeless service organizations, who have called it inhumane and ineffective at solving the issue. City officials say the ordinance will help the homeless connect to services by compelling them to stay in a shelter or at the Courtyard rather than on the street.
“The ordinance is intended to give homeless individuals a choice to get assistance so that they no longer have to live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions on the street,” the city website states.
Shelters will report their bed count via an online notification system daily at 6 p.m., Thomas-Gibson said. The city requests that they continue updating their bed count at least every two hours until 4 a.m. or until all beds have been filled.
Leslie Carmine, director of media and community relations at Catholic Charities, said the online notification system is straightforward and user-friendly. Catholic Charities already regularly daily how many people are using its shelter near the Courtyard as a condition of grant funding, Carmine said.
“(The city) did make it quite easy to give them the data, but it took a little bit. It’s not something we’re used to doing every hour,” Carmine said.
As the criminal aspect of the camping ban goes into effect, Catholic Charities expects minimal impacts to shelter operations, Carmine said. The shelter routinely reaches capacity by 9 or 10 p.m., so staff do not anticipate an increase in shelter use.
“I don’t know that it’s going to change what we’re doing,” Carmine said. “The services we’re providing all along I think will stay consistent.”
The camping ban will not affect Metro Police’s interactions with the homeless either, as officers will continue to prioritize connecting the homeless to services rather than arresting them, Officer Larry Hadfield said. The ordinance gives officers another tool for addressing homeless encampments at their own discretion, he said.
“When dealing with the homeless, which I’ve done numerous times throughout my career, you’re always looking for, somehow, a solution,” Hadfield said. “You’re likely not going out there to make an arrest.”
Arnold Stalk, the founder of Veterans Village, expects the penalty aspect of the ordinance will not affect service organizations and shelters because virtually all shelters already fill up nightly, he said. Veterans Village, which helps secure transitional and permanent housing for homeless individuals, is not considered a shelter and will therefore not be directly impacted by the ordinance.
“If the shelter system is full, then no one is going to be arrested. That’s the bottom line. Well, they’re always full,” Stalk said. “I don’t think this is going to change anything at all.”
The only impact he anticipates is that police officers will have more freedom to remove the homeless from areas they have traditionally been allowed to occupy. “But where do they take them?” said Stalk, a vocal critic of the ordinance.
Hadfield emphasized that arrests will not increase. It has been illegal in Las Vegas to obstruct sidewalks for years, he said, but officers always prioritize addressing violent crime rather than minor infractions.
“This has always been the case when it comes down to persons that are committing very minor misdemeanors. If there’s any way other than enforcement, that’s what we do,” Hadfield said.
As the full ordinance becomes law, the city will monitor shelter and Courtyard use and any other impacts on service providers if they come up, Thomas-Gibson said.
“I think we will be prepared for questions and to provide updates on service utilization after the first of February moving forward,” she said. “I know there will be a lot of interest in what our numbers look like that at that time.”
