Paula Heren and her boyfriend, Larry Swan, talk to Heren's 8-year-old daughter, Alyssa, at Thursday's opening of Family Promise's new facility at 320 S. Ninth St. The three spent several months living in their beat-up car before Family Promise helped them. Photos by Craig L. Moran. People gather Thursday for the opening of Family Promise's new facility. The nonprofit organization, which helps homeless families, was forced to move from its former home last year. The city of Las Vegas helped the group find a new location.

You won't any time soon hear Terry Lindemann say politicians don't keep their promises.

"We got this house because Mayor (Oscar) Goodman made a promise," Lindemann, director of the Family Promise organization that helps homeless families, said on Thursday of the nonprofit's cozy new building behind the Downtown Senior Services Center. "I don't know why he said it, but I knew he'd make it happen."

Goodman told Lindemann last year that the city would help find a new location for Family Promise after forcing the organization to move from its home at 502 W. Van Buren Ave., where it had quietly operated for a decade.

Neighbors had praised Family Promise's work but said the West Las Vegas neighborhood already had its share of social service providers. The house also had never been properly zoned.

Goodman said the City Council had no choice but to make the group move.

"We were asked to displace this wonderful program," he said Thursday. "We felt like we had committed a sin. Basically we had no choice."

Family Promise helps homeless parents care for their children while searching for jobs and housing and accessing other services.

Finding a new location for Family Promise was difficult because its programs are designed to operate out of a single-family home. Children feel comfortable there and parents can relax and are more open to receive help, Lindemann said.

A city-owned former parsonage at 320 S. Ninth St. fit the bill perfectly, and Lindemann says the move was a blessing in disguise.

"We learned a lot about collaboration," she said.

The city has leased the former parsonage to Family Promise for five years at a cost of $1 a year. The city also ponied up $150,000 to make the building compliant with codes for those with disabilities.

The house is 1,700 square feet, about 100 square feet bigger than the Van Buren house.

The Downtown Senior Services Center is the site of a former Baptist church.

Lindemann had only praise Thursday for Goodman, who is often criticized by social service workers and advocates who say he treats homeless people too harshly.

"This is not a religion-based nonprofit, but I'm a faithful person," she said. "I believe that God tapped him (Goodman) on the shoulder and said, 'Oscar, you need to step up to the plate.'"

Goodman agreed he felt he had to do something.

"I honest to God thought it was so unfair what happened," he said. "In a city that needs Family Promise, we couldn't allow this situation to exist."

One formerly homeless mother who was on hand for Family Promise's opening Thursday tearfully recounted what the organization had done for her family.

"They helped us get IDs," Paula Heren said as her 8-year-old daughter, Alyssa, played nearby. "They helped us find a job."

Heren, Alyssa and Heren's boyfriend, Larry Swan, ended up homeless and living out of their small, beat-up car for several months after an eviction.

"It was one thing after another," Heren said. "He (Swan) was looking for work, but my dad got real sick, and I had to stay with him in the hospital. Our money ran out, and we ended up on the street."

Heren said her father has since died.

Family Promise helped the family get back on its feet. Swan found a full-time job as a painter, and Alyssa enrolled in Hollingsworth Elementary School. Heren hopes to soon find employment as a hotel guest-room attendant. The three have been living in their own apartment for about six weeks.