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Thursday, September 19, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Negotiations to start on homeless shelter

City, Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada to talk about new function for old facility

A downtown homeless shelter that's being abandoned by its original operator could be transformed into an outpatient facility for the mentally ill, Las Vegas officials said Wednesday.

The City Council unanimously authorized its staff to begin negotiations with Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada on a plan to transform parts of a 10-acre campus on Main Street into a "drop-in center" where mentally ill homeless people could be evaluated and receive medication.

"They feel like it's doable, and they would like to pursue it," said Sharon Segerblom, director of the city's Neighborhood Services Department. "I'm real optimistic."

The decision comes as MASH Village prepares to vacate its facilities on North Main Street after a rocky seven-year tenure in Las Vegas marred by run-ins with Mayor Oscar Goodman and other city officials. The Rev. Joe Carroll, who runs the San Diego-based charity, cited fund-raising woes as his reason for pulling out of the market.

The city hired MASH Village in 1995 to operate a Transitional Living Center shelter for homeless families and a Crisis Intervention Center that provides a variety of social services. The shelter closed in August, a month earlier than expected, after mold was discovered on the premises.

But the crisis center will stay open through February under a five-month agreement with Catholic Charities, approved unanimously Wednesday by the City Council, which takes effect Oct. 1.

A $160,000 grant from the federal government, combined with $40,000 from the city and $25,000 from United Way, will be combined to keep the crisis center from closing.

But the city faces a host of challenges as it tries to find a permanent use for land and facilities it acquired in the early 1990s. Inspectors hired by the city report that the Transitional Living Center needs more than $1 million in repairs before it can be used by another service provider. The prefabricated 44,000-square-foot building, which taxpayers bought used from the U.S. military for $2.5 million in 1995, needs a new roof, insulation, air conditioning and numerous other repairs.

"We have to work with HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) to see if it's worth fixing," Segerblom said.

Although MASH Village was required under its operating agreement to maintain the facilities, city officials indicated that the charity is unlikely to be held liable for the repairs.

Complicating matters further is the fact that HUD officials already have told the city it will not renew an annual housing grant that supplied much of the $3.5 million in annual operating funds for MASH Village. Because the grant was given to MASH Village, not the city, it can't be renewed until the city finds a new operator willing to run the shelter.