NEVADA VIEWS: On the homeless: Inaction criminalizes hope

Las Vegas is a compassionate city that has proven time and again that we have a soul. But compassion doesn’t mean inaction. As homelessness grows on our sidewalks, in our parks and along our medians, we must strike a stronger balance between empathy and enforcement.

We must do this not because enforcement is the opposite of empathy, but because we have to take action and enforcement is a great line of defense to get people to accept the services designed to get them off the streets and reacclimated healthily into society.

In recent years, the city of Las Vegas has taken several important steps. In 2019, it passed a no-urban-camping ordinance making it illegal to sleep on public rights-of-way when shelter space is available. And in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a local law prohibiting people from sitting or standing on medians less than 36 inches wide. That law remains on the books, and rightly so. These are public safety issues, not political ones.

Yet our current policies aren’t enough. Sidewalk encampments still block businesses. Panhandling occurs near traffic lights and ATMs. Families avoid parks. Tourists and residents alike feel unsafe. The system, as it stands, allows suffering to sprawl visibly across our city, creating a crisis for those living on the street and those trying to live around it.

The First Amendment rightly protects speech, including panhandling. But not all regulations are unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court clarified in Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) that cities cannot regulate signs or speech based on content without a compelling government interest. However, cities can impose “time, place and manner” restrictions, so long as they are content-neutral, narrowly tailored and leave open alternative avenues for communication. This precedent is our legal guidepost. It shows us how to write smart laws that withstand scrutiny.

Here’s how we should apply it:

■ Ban panhandling within 15 feet of ATMs, business entrances and intersections. These restrictions, already in place in cities such as Denver and Atlanta, have withstood court tests when framed as public safety measures.

■ Designate “pedestrian safety zones” where sitting or lying is prohibited. Target areas such as Fremont Street, transit stations and school zones. Enforce against obstructing sidewalks, crosswalks or entrances.

■ Enforce a clean streets ordinance for public health. Public urination, open drug use and trash accumulation should never be normalized. The city should have zero tolerance for biohazards in shared spaces.

■ Expand the median law to on-ramps and traffic islands. If we’re serious about reducing traffic fatalities, we need to apply consistent rules across high-speed roadways.

■ Require service engagement as an alternative to fines or jail. Use community courts to divert violators into treatment, job training or transitional housing programs, rather than jail or revolving-door citations.

The loudest critics claim these ordinances criminalize poverty. But inaction criminalizes hope. Letting someone slowly die on the sidewalk with no treatment, no accountability and no safety net is not progressive, it’s abandonment. More than 500 people died last summer from heat exposure, and that number will likely rise this summer.

We need laws that protect the dignity of our neighborhoods and the people within them, including the unhoused. This isn’t about “sweeping people away.” It’s about creating a system with consequences, support and clear expectations. It’s about getting people to access the services that are available to help with short-term and long-term housing, transportation, food access, transportation, mental health and medical treatment and more.

Tougher laws, when paired with accessible services geared to help individuals experiencing homelessness off the streets for good, like those we have at the nonprofit Vegas Stronger, can move people from chaos to care. Las Vegas can lead the way with a model that’s both legally sound and morally strong.

Let’s act before sidewalks turn into shelters and safety becomes optional.

Dave Marlon founded Vegas Stronger, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing the root causes of addiction, mental health struggles and homelessness.