Board of Counly Commissioners September 30, 2019 The Honorable Carolyn Goodman Mayor of Las Vegas Scott D. Adams, City Manager City of Las Vegas 495 S. Main Street Las Vegas, NV 89101 Mayor Goodman: In response to your correspondence of September 11, 2019, Clark County wishes to commend the City of Las Vegas on “obtaining positive results to provide services for homeless individuals who have been living within the City of Las Vegas jurisdictional boundaries.’ Thank you for the invitation to tour the Courtyard but muitiple County staff and Commissioners have already toured the facility. Clark County, as the regional provider of indigent services, will continue implementing and funding regional services with evidence-based outcomes to support a healthy system of care from ENTRY to EXIT. While the County recognizes the efforts of the Courtyard program as part of the service array, the Courtyard is an entry point without a full complement of solutions to support a permanent exit from the system. The County is focused on a system of care which provides not only basic overnight shelter services, but also connected transitional housing/continuity of care towards successful exit from the system. The City of Las Vegas emphasizes that the Courtyard was developed to provide services to homeless individuals within the City's jurisdictional boundaries. The City further states that the Courtyard cannot physically support participants from outside the City. The letter appears to suggest that the Courtyard is servicing homeless individuals across the valley. A six-month retrospective review of the County's outreach data shows that 30 individuals were taken to the Courtyard. These individuals were transported at the request of the homeless client upon initial contact. Since the individuals served typically do not have an address with a specific jurisdiction based on their homeless status, it is unclear how the City can assert that the Courtyard is. servicing homeless ind ional boundaries. It should be noted that as the regional provider of indigent services, Clark County annually spends more than $47 milion of Clark County funding in assistance for the homeless and indigent population to include all vulnerable populations inclusive of children, families, adults, seniors, and the disabled. These services include crisis stabilization, expanded response and outreach services, diversion programming, emergency shelter services, indigent medical placement, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing to provide successful results for those served through treatment and intensive programming. In Fiscal Year 2019, over 25,000 individuals were assessed and providedThe Honorable Carolyn Goodman ‘September 30, 2019 Page 2 services by Clark County to include 22,000 individuals being assessed for housing services, 13,000 receiving housing support and case management, and 500 individuals provided with transportation to communities in other states to reunify with family support systems. ‘Additionally, Clark County facilitates and coordinates the Continuum of Care (COC) to maximize federal funding and appreciates the efforts of all participating partners recognizing the ongoing and continued challenges this population presents and the need for additional capacity at all levels of the system. This system actively maintains over 5,800 individuals in permanent Supportive housing throughout the valley, which absent these services would be homeless. ‘As | am sure your experience with the Courtyard project is revealing, our overarching goal should be to move an individual through the system once from entry to exit so as to best utilize the funding that is available in our community and mitigate duplicative services. As part of the AB7S taskforce, we look forward to developing a collaborative process to address homelessness in our community. MARILYN KIRKPATRICK YOLANDA T. KING Chair, Board of County Commissioners County Manager cc: Board of County Commissioners Kevin Schiller, Assistant County ManagerLAS VEGAS CITY COUNCIL CAROLYN G. GOODMAN Mayor MICHELE FIORE ‘Mayor Po Tem STAVROS S, ANTHONY CEDRIC CREAR BRIAN KNUDSEN VICTORIA SEAMAN OuviAniaz, SCOTT D. ADAMS City Manager OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER, cIry HALL 4955. MAIN ST. LAS VEGAS, NY 89101 702.229.6011 | VOICE mit lasvegasnevada gov September 11,2019 Marilyn Kirkpatrick, Chairman Clark County Commission Debra March, Mayor of Henderson John J. Lee, Mayor of North Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Joseph P. Iser, Chief Health Officer of Souther Nevada Health District Richard Derrick, Henderson City Manager Yolanda King, Clark County Manager Ryann Juden, North Las Vegas City Manager RE: Homeless Services After 1 year of operating the City of Las Vegas Courtyard, we are pleased to report that we are obtaining positive results to provide services for homeless individuals who have been living within the City of Las Vegas jurisdictional boundaries. The services provided include temporary lodging and connection to transitional assistance for housing and employment opportunities; substance abuse counseling; and provision of food, water and other basic needs, The Courtyard was planned using best practices from cities around the U.S,, and will serve as a model for other locations in Southern Nevada. Unfortunately due to the high service demands plus site and financial imitations, expansion to complete the planned full site improvements and full suite of services will take some time, However, we believe it is critical for us to continue as we endeavor to provide support to those City of Las Vegas residents, ‘The City of Las Vegas cannot provide the Courtyard as the regional solution to the homeless problem outside of our city boundaries, The Courtyard was developed to provide services to limited areas in the urban core of our city. The Courtyard cannot physically support participants from outside the city, nor should the City of Las Vegas citizens be expected to bear those additional costs originating from outside of our boundaries. ‘We look forward to the work of the legislatively mandated AB73 homeless taskforce to review the regional homeless problem and potential regional solutions. If you would like to review the Courtyard operations for consideration within your own jurisdiction, please let us know and we will coordinate briefings andor a tour by the appropriate City of Las Vegas employees. (On behalf of the City of Las Vegas, we are pleased to report our progress in addressing these growing concerns. Sincerely, Sincerely, , we CpsubScedson CG Carolyn G. Goodman Scott D. Adams Mayor, City of Las Vegas City Manager, City of Las Vegas cc: Las Vegas City Council