Communiqué Past Articles Communiqué - December 2006 | Communiqué - December 2006 |
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Nevada Legal Services in the Field: Stand Down for the Homeless 2006By James J. Vilt On November 8, 2006, Nevada Legal Services, in partnership with multiple social service and governmental agencies, hosted the 14th Annual Stand Down for the Homeless at Cashman Field. The Stand Down is an event which brings together job counseling agencies, housing providers, mental health and substance abuse professionals, doctors, dentists, hairstylists and lawyers under one roof so that the homeless can access their services in order to assist in their transition from the streets and shelters back into their communities. As part of the Stand Down, judges from the area justice and municipal courts, together with their staffs and court personnel, hold court at Cashman where they resolve outstanding misdemeanor criminal cases for homeless residents of Clark County. Judges Douglas Smith, Karen Bennet-Haron from Las Vegas Justice Court, Judge Sean Hoeffgen from North Las Vegas Municipal Court and Judges Betsy Kolkoski, and Dayvid Figler from Las Vegas Municipal Court presided over approximately 1000 cases. Several attorneys, paralegals and law graduate advocates volunteered from both the public and private sectors. From Clark County Legal Services, volunteers included Moreen Scully, Sam Dukart, Silvina Gimenez, Janice Wolfe and Nancy Heimerle. Volunteers from Nevada Legal Services included Roxana Castillo, Shaolaine Loving, Rhea Gertken, David Olshan, Martie Stabile, Heather Fintak-Anderson, Jim Vilts, and Mary Lou Perez. Private practitioner John McNicholas also found the time to volunteer his services. The line for the "homeless" court formed early in the morning and extended nearly across the entire façade of Cashman. As participants made their way into the building, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and court clerks provided criminal background checks. If a warrant or other unresolved criminal matter appeared to exist, the homeless defendant could choose to seek counsel and advice from one of the volunteer criminal defense attorneys. The defendant was then given the opportunity to appear before the court. The need for this service is vital. Homeless people often receive citations for public nuisance offenses and then fail to appear in court often due to the fact that they are consumed with simply surviving life on the street. Ultimately, unresolved legal issues prevent the homeless from accessing the job market, housing, treatment programs, and public assistance. For those who are receiving public assistance, including Social Security benefits, unresolved criminal cases can lead to a cessation of these benefits and send those who are already in dire straights into a downward spiral from which it is difficult to return. There are homeless courts operating in roughly 30 jurisdictions across the country and it is anticipated that some of Clark County's courts will begin working towards formulating a more regularly meeting homeless court program within the year. James J. Vilt is the directing attorney in the Las Vegas office of Nevada Legal Services, a statewide non-profit law center that provides legal assistance to low income Nevadans. Mr. Vilt obtained his law degree from California Western School of Law and a BS in finance from New York University. Prior to joining Nevada Legal Services, Mr. Vilt served as a community economic development advisor with the Peace Corps in Bulgaria. The American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness and Poverty Comes to Las Vegas: A National Perspective on a Local ApproachBy Casey Trupin, Chair of the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty This October, the American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness and Poverty visited the city of Las Vegas. The Commission's interest in visiting the fast-growing city developed because of two innovative approaches to homelessness that piqued our attention. The state of Nevada, Clark County and the city, we were told, seemed to be moving in two different directions when it came to the law and people who were homeless—changing it for the better when it came to homeless youth, and for the worse when it came to homeless adults. What we saw when we visited was at times heartening and at times shocking, leaving us with a clear understanding that Clark County was in crisis when it came to positively addressing legal issues facing people experiencing homelessness. Using the law to help homeless and at-risk youthUnder the direction of its president, Karen Mathis, the ABA has taken a significant interest in how the law can help at-risk youth. President Mathis created the Youth At-Risk Commission and charged it with "working to enhance laws, judicial intervention strategies, policies, practices, and programs intended to help prevent teens from becoming delinquent or engaging in criminal acts." As the Commission looks at how the law can assist youth who have been thrown out of their homes, are abandoned, or have run away, it will certainly take note of a positive approach employed in Nevada. In 2001, the Nevada Legislature adopted the "Right to Shelter Law" which permits individual counties to enact ordinances that would allow authorized youth shelters to provide necessary services to runaway or homeless youth. Necessary services include food, access to overnight shelter, counseling to address emotional crisis or problems, outreach services to locate and assist youth, screening for basic health care needs, referrals to public and private health care agencies, and long term planning, placement and follow up services. The Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) explained to the Commission how the bill and law had come about as well as what life was like for homeless youth in Nevada. Quite notable was the significant support NPHY received in the past and continues to receive from the private bar, especially the firm of Lionel Sawyer and Collins. NPHY continues to work with others to come up with unique approaches to help homeless youth. A prime example is the fantastic "Safe Place" program in which the Terrible Herbst Oil Company offered up over 100 of its convenience stores as places where homeless youth could access services and safety. Using the law to punish people for being homelessThe work of NPHY, in concert with the private bar, private businesses and supportive lawmakers, stands in stark contrast to the situation for homeless adults in Clark County. Using the criminal justice system to punish people for being homeless is nothing new. Many cities have passed ordinances prohibiting sleeping, eating, sitting, and begging in public spaces. The criminalization of homelessness has taken many forms in many cities, including making it illegal to sleep or sit in public spaces and enforcing laws that punish people for begging or panhandling in an effort to move poor or homeless persons out of a city or downtown area. It has been well reported that the city of Las Vegas recently adopted a relatively unique ordinance that makes feeding a poor person punishable by a fine of $1,000 and six months in jail. Specifically, the ordinance bans, in parks "the providing of food or meals to the indigent for free or for a nominal fee." Who is indigent under the law? It is "a person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive assistance" under state law. Las Vegas, NV., Code § 13.36.055 (2006). In other words, you can give food to anyone you want to, just as long as they don't appear to be poor. The city has not been shy about reporting that the ordinance will be selectively enforced against people perceived to be feeding homeless individuals, using "enforcement training" to teach officers who to target. Not surprisingly, one judge has found this ordinance to be unconstitutionally vague. Another recent ordinance outlawed knowingly establishing sleeping quarters near defecation unless that "deposit" is made in an appropriate sanitary facility. The ordinance was later stricken from the books, but the fact that it was proposed, unanimously passed by the city council, and signed by the mayor, is telling. None of the advocates we met with felt that the city was even close to offering a sufficient range of services and housing to address the needs of the community. Instead, the city's leaders appear to be using the power of the law to punish people for engaging in life-sustaining activities in public—activities that they couldn't do in private. Instead of using the law, along with creative partnerships, to open up services to people on the streets (as NPHY had done), the city's approach criminalized poverty. The strategy punished people for feeding others who are hungry, penalized hungry people for sleeping and ultimately harmed our faith in the belief that the law is, in any way, equal or just. As a response to the increasing criminalization of homelessness throughout our nation, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty issued a report entitled "Solutions through Alternative Remedies: Practical Models to Help End Homelessness." In addition, the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty recently published a book, "Lawyers Working to End Homelessness," detailing other positive legal strategies lawyers can use. As attorneys, we can do better—we can and should use the law to create innovative approaches to addressing homelessness, such as those coming out of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, rather than punitive approaches, such as those coming out of the city of Las Vegas. Casey Trupin is the chair of the ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty. Created in 1991, the commission is committed to educating the bar and the public about homelessness and poverty and the ways in which the legal community and advocates can assist those in need. To achieve this goal, the commission drafts publications and conducts training sessions across the country to equip the legal community to advocate on behalf of people who are homeless or poor. The commission also coordinates with national, state and local advocates and organizations to facilitate the exchange of information and resources. For more information on the commission's current activities, go to www.abanet.org/homeless. |
© Originally published in COMMUNIQUÉ (December, Vol. 27, No. 12), the official journal of the Clark County Bar Association. All rights reserved.