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Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada is about to unveil renovations at its downtown Las Vegas campus, which will include 400 beds, expanded shower capacity and restrooms, as well as new flooring, plumbing and cellphone lockers for its homeless clients, said Steve Schmitt, the nonprofit’s chief operating officer.
Friday, July 22, 2022 | 2 a.m.
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Las Vegans dealing with homelessness will soon have access to newly upgraded facilities in downtown Las Vegas.
Starting next week, Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada will have completed renovations to its dining space and living quarters, which will include 400 beds, expanded shower capacity and restrooms, as well as new flooring, plumbing and cellphone lockers for clients, said Steve Schmitt, the nonprofit’s chief operating officer.
Relatively untouched since the group’s downtown Las Vegas campus openedin 2001, the facility’s new and improved amenities are a much-needed upgrade, Schmitt said.
“After seeing thousands and thousands of people over the last 20 years, we’ve obviously needed to freshen this place up a bit,” Schmitt said. “In taking what we’ve learned over the last 20 years, and applying it to not only giving the dignity to the people we serve, but also the durability of the surfaces and things that we’ve learned over the years that make it easier for us to help them.”
For homeless people seeking help, the process at Catholic Charities is designed to be streamlined as well as helping them out of homelessness as quickly as possible, Schmitt said. Catholic Charities opens its doors to the public at 3 p.m. and provides a hot meal, linens and a shower during the evening. The shelter is open through 7 a.m.
“Being able to provide temporary shelter can be the starting point for someone ready to start on a path toward better self-sufficiency, and we’re certain the latest remodel of our shelter will improve our ability to help those in need,” Deacon Tom Roberts, CEO of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada said in a statement. “Since our start in 1941, we’ve worked to help our community’s most vulnerable and today operate as one of the largest nonprofit social service providers in the state.”
Case managers — who work with homeless clients to establish work and find affordable housing — reach out to clients they see often at the shelter so they can register with Catholic Charities and begin to look for work, Schmitt said. Those who return frequently can have a dedicated bed reserved for them so they don’t have to spend so much time dwelling in a line.
“Typically, a barrier to getting out of homelessness is standing in lines all day for food or shelter,” Schmitt said. “So this allows them, if they are working with a case manager, to let them know they have a bed here.”
Admittedly, most of the renovations are modest quality-of-life improvements that have been needed for some time, Schmitt said. But the phone-charging lockers will be a game changer for many, he said, because often cellphones are the lone tool many have to communicate with family and loved ones — as well as establish a point of contact for prospective employment and other advancement opportunities.
“One of the biggest complaints we have in the shelter is people getting their phones stolen, or maybe IDs stolen,” Schmitt said. “(With these lockers), we’ve noticed that they picked up on it pretty quick, learning the combination system and everything, and they’re storing their phones in there overnight.”
Having these improved common spaces can also have a big difference in client morale, and that’s important when the group has seen a doubling in clientele who use their food pantry and a 75% increase in new clients facing homelessness since last year, Schmitt said. Between family services, the food pantry, running the state’s immigration and refugee services, and its homeless and housing services, Catholic Charities services upwards of 4,000 residents weekly, the agency said.
Nicholas Barr, a social work professor at UNLV and an expert in youth and veteran homelessness, said the new renovations would likely have a large impact for the folks staying at the shelter. However, he said local governments needed to do more to build more affordable housing units and keep current housing as cheap as possible.
“Temporary housing just simply isn’t the solution, but I think we need to keep in mind the solution to the problem of homelessness isn’t sprucing up temporary shelters,” Barr said. “I’m sure it’s a welcome change, but it’s not a long-term solution to the problem.”
As climate change worsens an already historic drought in the West, Barr said, cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles and areas in the Pacific Northwest will continue to see deadly heat waves that disproportionately affect the homeless.
“We need to decide as a society if we’re willing to put up with this,” he said.
When it comes to helping folks out of an issue that can be difficult to grapple, such as homelessness, facilities that are accommodating can show clients that volunteers are willing and able to help. And that, Schmitt said, is beneficial for all parties involved.
“We’ve always looked at this as not a final destination but (as) being a process (and) going through something,” Schmitt said. “The more we can design our operation and design our facilities to be conducive to understanding that, (the better). This is hopefully a stop along the way.”
