Las Vegas City Council debates tougher measures to combat homelessness

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

However, some local advocates believe the move is merely a “stopgap measure” that may only worsen the situation for Southern Nevada’s homeless population.

“The city is making a decision by passing this law, and … I wonder if they’re thinking about our homeless folks. Are they providing them with resources or are they educating them on these things?” says Kelly Bui, volunteer coordinator at The Promise, a group founded two years ago that provides resources to the area’s homeless. “A law banning camping sounds like a stopgap measure that doesn’t help our folks at all.”

The ordinance proposed by Mayor Carolyn Goodman would prohibit sitting, lying, cooking or camping on any publicly accessible street, alley, highway, trail or right-of-way. “Camping” is defined in the bill as “sleeping or otherwise residing in a temporary shelter outdoors; sleeping outdoors; cooking over an open flame or outdoor fire; or laying out bedding or setting up a tent, shelter or similar structure for sleeping or as temporary housing.”

This would amend a 2020 ordinance that banned camping and overnight stays on public rights-of-way unless beds were available at local shelters, a city spokesperson said in an email to the Sun. The new proposal removes that language and makes camping illegal regardless of the number of beds.

Before officers issue a written warning or ticket, they must first inform the person that they are violating the ordinance, inform them of the assistance available at the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center at 314 East Foremaster Lane, and direct the person to a non-violating location.

The bill states that any person convicted of violating the ordinance more than twice within a 12-month period may be sentenced to a minimum of 10 days in jail. Alternatively, the court may order the defendant to participate in a rehabilitation program, special court program or other treatment program designed to assist the homeless.

The proposed regulation lists some exceptions to this rule. Exempted would be a person who is sitting or lying down due to a medical emergency or disability; who is visiting a business, service or government function; who is attending a parade, festival, performance, rally, demonstration, assembly or similar event; or who is waiting for public or private transportation or access to a building.

If passed, the ordinance would join a list of cities that have enacted strict homeless policies since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson.

In a 6-3 decision, the court sided with the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, which had passed an ordinance that effectively banned homeless people from camping on public property. The court ruled that the law was not unconstitutional. All three Democratic-appointed Supreme Court justices – Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – voted against the majority opinion.

Since 2018, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers nine western states, including Nevada, has ruled that such bans in areas where there are not enough emergency shelters violate the Eighth Amendment.

Homelessness is a recurring problem in Southern Nevada.

The 2024 Point-in-Time Homelessness Count found that 7,906 people were homeless in Southern Nevada as of January 25, a 17% increase from the previous year’s 6,566. This trend has followed 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 wants to reduce the city’s homelessness rate before she leaves office at the end of this year. She has repeatedly pointed out that if the city doesn’t create more solutions, downtown Las Vegas will end up like Los Angeles’ Skid Row.

In the past, Goodman has touted the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center as the city’s way to provide wraparound services to Las Vegas’ homeless population.

“We have sanctuary cities nearby, but yet we have an ever-increasing number of families and individuals who are homeless because of the seasonal climate and the anonymity of the many people who come to town and enjoy Las Vegas and our tourism,” Goodman said in her January address. “We cannot have skid row here, and we will not, 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 comprehensive resources for the homeless, including medical care, laundry facilities, showers and bathrooms, a pet kennel, a computer lab and relaxation areas.

There is also a free Arrow shuttle that takes people to service providers such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, Nevada Job Connect, the Goodwill Career Center and more.

Even before the Courtyard, Las Vegas was sending response teams and providing mobile intervention and resource services to people living on the streets or in encampments, flood control tunnels and outlying areas of Las Vegas.

But local activists fear that the new ban will put homeless people in an even more precarious situation: they will have to deal with subway officials more often, have their belongings taken away or destroyed by bulldozers, and be evicted from their homes with no other options for getting help.

The Promise takes a “holistic approach” to homelessness, addressing the specific needs of each person who comes to the weekly “Sunday Service,” explains Sunray Bates, The Promise’s “director of hugs and high kicks.”

Bui and Bates said that in recent months, it feels like twice as many people have attended their Sunday services, and many have seen their camps destroyed.

From the stories they hear each week, the shelter environment can be difficult. Some shelters have long wait times or lottery systems for places. In addition, advocates have heard from some who use The Promise’s services that their belongings have been stolen in other shelters.

Putting people in emergency shelters when financial resources are already stretched thin “just seems silly, and maybe that’s putting it mildly,” Bates said.

She suggested that the city should instead try to regain the trust of the local homeless population and rely on services like The Promise to provide a more personalized approach to each homeless person.

“It’s a solution that requires us to zoom in, not really zoom out,” Bates said. “It’s going to be personal; it’s literally about talking to each person that we interact with and finding out what their story is, what their needs are, what their beliefs are. It’s not about zooming out and finding a general solution, because there’s not going to be a one size fits all solution, because every single person who is homeless is a unique, individual human being that needs unique, individualized care.”

The regulation is to be voted on at the meeting on October 2nd at 10 a.m.

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