Las Vegas City Council to debate tougher measures to combat homelessness

A new city ordinance to be introduced at Wednesday’s Las Vegas City Council meeting would ban people from sitting, lying down or camping on public streets, alleys, trails or highways.

But some local advocates believe the move is simply “a Band-Aid solution” that might just make situations worse for Southern Nevada’s homeless population.

“The city is making a choice by providing this law and … I wonder if they’re also thinking of our unhoused folks. Are they providing resources or connecting them with those things?” said Kelly Bui, volunteer coordinator with The Promise, a group established two years ago that provides resources for homeless people in the region. “Just having a law banning camping, it just sounds like a Band-Aid solution that doesn’t really help our folks at all.”

The proposed ordinance, sponsored by Mayor Carolyn Goodman, would outlaw any sitting, lying down, cooking or camping on publicly available streets, alleys, highways, trails or easements. “Camping” in the bill is defined as “sleeping or otherwise being in a temporary shelter outdoors; sleeping outdoors; cooking over an open flame or fire outdoors; or laying down bedding or setting up a tent, shelter or similar structure for purposes of sleeping or temporary living.”

It would amend a 2020 ordinance that outlawed camping and lodging in public rights-of-way unless there were no beds available in the local shelters, a city spokesperson said in an email to the Sun. The new proposal removes that language to make camping illegal regardless of bed space.

Before issuing a written warning or citation, officers must first notify the person that they are in violation of the ordinance, inform them of resources available at the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center at 314 East Foremaster Lane and direct the person to a location where they wouldn’t be breaking any rules.

The bill notes that any person convicted of violating the ordinance more than twice in any 12-month period can receive a minimum jail time of 10 days, or a court could order the defendant to complete a rehabilitation program, specialty court program or other treatment program designed to assist homeless people.

Some exceptions to the rule are listed in the proposed ordinance. A person who is sitting or lying down due to a medical emergency or as a result of a disability; patronizing a business, service or government function; participating in or attending a parade, festival, performance, rally, demonstration, meeting or similar event; or waiting for public or private transportation or access to enter a building would be exempt.

If the ordinance is approved, Las Vegas would join the list of cities that have enacted strict rules against homeless people since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson.

In a 6-3 decision, the court sided with the city of Grants Pass, Ore., which passed an ordinance that basically made it illegal for homeless residents to camp on any public property, and ruled that the law was not unconstitutional. All three of the high court’s Democratic appointees — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — voted against the majority opinion.

Since 2018, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over nine Western states, including Nevada, had held that these types of bans violated the Eighth Amendment in areas that lack enough shelter beds.

Homelessness has continually caused issues in Southern Nevada.

The 2024 Point-in-Time Homelessness Count found 7,906 people experiencing homelessness in Southern Nevada as of Jan. 25, a 17% increase over last year’s 6,566 individuals. It follows an upward trend in the region every year since 2021, when 5,083 homeless people were counted.

In her 2024 State of the City address, Goodman mentioned that she wanted to curb the city’s rate of homelessness before she leaves office at the end of this year. She has repeatedly pushed that downtown Las Vegas would end up like Los Angeles’ Skid Row if the city didn’t create more solutions.

In the past, Goodman has touted the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center as the city’s way of connecting homeless people in Las Vegas with wraparound services.

“We have sanctuary cities nearby, but yet, because of the seasonable climate and the anonymity of the numbers of people that come into town and visit and enjoy Las Vegas and our tourism, we have a growing, growing (population of) families and individuals who are homeless,” Goodman said in her January address. “We cannot have (a Skid Row) here, and we won’t, and your council will not allow it. People cannot be left like animals without help and without hope.”

The $25 million Courtyard Homeless Resource Center opened in 2017 to provide resources across the board for homeless individuals, including medical care, laundry facilities, showers and bathrooms, a kennel for pets, a computer laboratory and areas for lounging.

It also has a free Arrow shuttle that transports people to service providers like the Department of Motor Vehicles, Nevada Job Connect, Goodwill Career Center and more.

Even before the Courtyard existed, Las Vegas was sending outreach teams and providing mobile intervention and resources to people living on the street or in encampments, flood-control tunnels and outlying areas of Las Vegas.

But local activists worry this updated ban will leave homeless folks in a more precarious position — dealing more with Metro officers, having their belongings taken or bulldozed and being displaced with little other options for help.

At The Promise, a “holistic approach” to homelessness is taken, with each person who shows up to their weekly “Sunday Service” getting their specific needs addressed, explained Sunray Bates, the “head of hugs and high kicks” at The Promise.

Bui and Bates said they had seen what feels like twice the number of people attending their Sunday Service in recent months, many of whom have had their encampments destroyed.

From the stories they hear each week, Bui and Bates said the shelter environment can be difficult. Some have long waits or lottery systems for spots, and the advocates have been told by some who use The Promise’s services that their belongings have been stolen in other shelters.

Pushing people into shelters that already have resources stretched thin “just seems kind of silly, and that might even be too soft of a word,” Bates said.

She suggested the city instead try to gain back the trust of the local homeless population and rely on services like The Promise to bring a more individualized approach to each person living on the streets.

“It’s a solution that requires us to zoom in, not really zoom out,” Bates said. “It’s getting personal; it’s literally talking to every person we interact with and finding out what their story is, what their needs are and what their beliefs are. It’s not about zooming out and having a generalized solution because it’s not going to be a one-size-fits-all for everybody, because every single person experiencing houselessness is a unique, individual human that requires unique, individual care.”

The ordinance is scheduled for a vote at its meeting at 10 a.m. Oct. 2.

 

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