By Selwyn Harris
A home is destroyed by fire.
The family who lived there barely made enough to make ends meet and is now homeless.
Where do they turn for help?
That was one of the scenarios discussed during a town board meeting in April.
Pahrump resident and NyE Communities Coalition member Jon Zellhoefer delivered a presentation to board members outlining a plan to develop transitional housing for local individuals and families in financial distress.
He told the board that area agencies are working together on the project.
“The Crisis Intervention used to be known as the Homeless Assistance Program. What we are trying to do there is expand the non-profit and volunteer efforts within the town of Pahrump to assist those who find themselves in a temporary situation where they may be without a home or without shelter,” he said.
Zellhoefer also noted he was not looking for any type of financial support from the town.
“What I would ask, is that you consider a resolution that would recognize the efforts of the volunteers and the non-profits that are working with the outreach committee and that you would recognize that the Crisis Intervention effort is consistent with the mission statement of the town of Pahrump. There is an on-going need for assistance in our community at every level and there are those who fall through the cracks sometimes and need help at the bottom,” he said.
Zellhoefer defined transitional housing as a place where a family can live while they can get back on their feet following a disaster or unfortunate unforeseen occurrence.
“It’s for somebody who has found themselves out of the house because it burned down, or an unexpected financial crisis and it typically lasts no more than three months. If you look at Elko, they have a program in place. Pahrump needs to look to Nevada like other towns and unincorporated parts of Nevada. We need to have the full gambit of services any other town or city would usually provide to those who find themselves at the short-end,” he said.
Zellhoefer told the board he is hoping to get assistance from Housing and Urban Development for homes which he said will be maintained by local volunteer groups.
He noted the many vacant and foreclosed homes in the valley would be more than suitable for the project.
“They could be anywhere within the town of Pahrump. There is no particular area where we have zoned or permitted transient housing. Transient housing simply means that it’s a rental that’s for short-term use by those who have pre-qualified by special needs,” he said.
Zellhoefer told Board Member Dr. Tom Waters that there have been recent occurrences where transitional housing could have been utilized in the community.
“Without revealing specific names, I can tell you that we had two requests this past week for families that have been impacted. As a member on the board of No To Abuse we had our staff meeting and our director pointed out a serious need in our town for women and children of domestic violence and we did not have anything available for that. We had a family approximately a month ago that was burned out of their house and there was no place for them to go. We get about three requests a week that fall into this crisis intervention category,” he noted.
Zellhoefer also made mention that in many cases the families are not destitute nor are they looking for handouts.
They have just fallen on tough times as of late.
“They are simply in-crisis families so they need something to get themselves some shelter for a short period of time. In most cases they have some funds available if not all of the funds to take care of themselves but when you go out to rent, typically the landlord would want to see a term lease and this is kind of an intermediate step where it gets people over their prices, on their feet and then they can move into long-term appropriate housing,” he said.
Board member Harley Kulkin suggested that Zellhoefer contact area property managers to gauge their thoughts and feelings on the project.
“It’s a situation where one hand can wash the other and that might be beneficial to you. They might have some vacant properties and in light of what you just said, that would help get some people in there even if it was temporary. It might end up being a longer term so they have a place right away plus the owner is happy because he’s getting some rent,” he said.
Waters, meanwhile, said something clearly needs to be done about those who find themselves in dire straits through no real fault of their own.
“I’m on the committee for the Community Outreach and one of the things that we talk about is helping the needy, helping the homeless, and the people that may need transitional housing just to stay on their feet. What do we do for them? Do we just leave them on the street? Or do we have something where we can put somebody up. I think as a community we need to come together and find a way,” he said.
Board members eventually voted 3-0 to approve creating a non-financial support resolution for the Crisis Intervention Committee.
The resolution will be presented at the next town board meeting.
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- Horace Langford Jr. / Pahrump Valley Times – A fire on Galaxy Street in March 2011 destroyed portions of a private residence in Pahrump, displacing the family that lived there. A recent presentation by NyE Communities Coalition member Jon Zellhoefer highlighted the lack of local services for victims of such tragedies.
I thought this is what the Red Cross does? Don’t they help people in Pahrump who are burned out of their homes?
this is going to sound heartless and I really don’t mean to…but-of course there must be emergency services available to anyone who suffers an emergency-salvation army, etc-but this is where entitlement starts-I’ve been helping family memebers for the past 4yrs who lost their jobs-either use of my car, sleep on my sofa etc-when a tradegy occurs it’s time for family, church and friends to pull together to help their own-give basic clothing items, a bag of groceries and safe bed for 1-2 nights-but then you are on your own-this is the way my family did it back in the day-tragedies are horrible but weak minded people are worse-we need to empower people so they will build themselves back up-not sitting in a shelter getting 3 square meal s a day!
Well you are definitely right about one thing. You sound heartless.
Usually people in that situation mentioned above go and live with family or relatives.
Quote
““What I would ask, is that you consider a resolution that would recognize the efforts of the volunteers and the non-profits…………”
blah blah blah.
Why does that organization need to be recognized??????????? Just do the work if your so passionate about it.
Rise up
and rise up again
until lambs become lions
What about the Salvation Army? Why aren’t they helping?
and why is my earlier comment being scensored? there isn’t anything hateful in it-yet you are taking your time reviewing? for what?
To Mr. Wallace, I hope and pray I never find myself in this situation. You state these individuals can go live with family members/relatives. In my case if this were to happen, I have no family or relatives here in Pahrump or even in the state of Nevada. I am a single mom of 3, working part time, living on a shoe string of a budget and going to school. Are you saying that if an unfortunate event left me homeless, I should just suck it up and live on the streets and not ask for assistance? That’s cold.
Our home was destroyed in a house fire here many years ago. We moved an RV onto our property and utilized our existing electric, water and sewer during extended reconstruction. Nowadays, that is illegal. I would start with rescinding THAT ordinance to solve this much older problem. Sometimes the simplest problems can be solved with a second look at older solutions.
On what basis are you saying this is illegal (to live in an RV on a lot here in Pahrump. I see RVs on lots with and without homes all over Pahrump. Some homes for sale even advertise they have RV hookups next to the home.
let see over 5 years ago i moved here from chicago and i wont to start a homless shelter and i got told at that time there no homeless people in pahrump just the one who live behind the nugget and i said thenok well then who are all the people i see on the corner of walmart and smith and they said they are not homeless they are nothing ok then i got ask if we did do this who would help pay for the noprofit and i also said the gov they told me they don,t wont the gov invold with pahrump at all i sad your loss they would help you out in a lot of whay we really need a homeless shelter in pahrump it would help out with the job the gov would pay some money to the employer for them working there also they would be off the street at night the would have a place to stay and be warm in the winter time but see we live in a town who dont care about the people they care about the money i,m sorry that how i feel thank you town of pahrump we have a lot of church out here or place were they can stay and keep warm in the winter time and the creer contation in the gym they could stay also so please the house that burnd down i,m sorry to here what happen i wish i could help you out but because of the town we cant i,m sorry i hope people will think about this and do something to help other out otherwis we are going to have a lot of thing go on with the homeless like store getting rob for money or stilling going on i wish i coud start this up if you all think we need a homeless shelter please let the town know thank you
You expect me to waste my time and have to work through Hieroglyphs and code breaking to try and comprehend what you are talking about?
Didn’t you ever learn what a PERIOD is used for in the English language?
Rise up
and rise up again
until lambs become lions
then why reply at all willie?
i got the jist of what was being said.
why can’t something be done with all the vacant and forclosed on homes sitting in pahrump? i mean there are hundreds and hundreds of them. i would think that rather then sitting there rotting away there sould be a way to utalise them.
You could let all the illegals get a free home in exchange for their vote.
You could give a free home to the downtrodden for their vote.
Or you could give the homeless a free home for their vote.
Or you could do what was done in the 80′s with the S&L debacle. Bulldoze the homes right off the pads. That will make your home go up in value. I’ll bet you and many other people will opt for bulldozing.
Edit: stick to the facts and stop with the condescending remarks.
i was asking why can’t the many empty and forclosed upon houses in pahrump be used somehow someway to help those who have been the vitim of a fire or some other tragady and allow the persons who lost everything to move into that house and allow them to pay some rent or something.
i never said anything about illegals or the homeless or anything of the sort…
i was only asking about those who were displaced from their homes due to no fault of their own…i had no idea you would try and insert so much between the lines.
Bad things can and do happen to people. So putting them up, feeding clothing and helping should be a given. If the ones getting help decide to take advantage of the situation and extend the stay beyond a reasonable time frame, you need to send them packing. And this does happen, not every needy person is ethical and above scamming.
When the wild fires hit communities east of San Diego a few years back, the Red Cross sent out pleas for donations nationwide. They then used the money to update office equipment and not a dime went to the aid of those burned out. This hit the news and the Red Cross tried manufacturing excuses. Check out what the pay of the top administrators at Red Cross is, for an eye opener. I quit donating to groups like that and prefer one on one donations to the person in need of help.