Pahrump’s new law on squatting cracks down on unauthorized occupants

The subject of homelessness is one that inspires passionate responses from all sides of the community but those responses are far from uniform.

In Nye County, residents are firmly divided. For some, the plight of those facing homelessness leads to the search for solutions and resources to offer the indigent. But for others, the very idea of ‘incentivizing” the homeless by providing services to them has alarm bells ringing, for fear that the population of unhoused individuals will skyrocket.

As it is, the number of people without homes in the Pahrump Valley has continued to grow in recent years, prompting action from the Nye County Commission. In an attempt to stem some of the problems that have arisen, commissioners recently approved an addition to Nye County Code that empowers the Nye County Sheriff’s Office to cite or arrest people living on private property without permission.

Nye County Bill No. 2024-08, an item sponsored by Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill, amends Nye County Code Title 9 - Public Peace, Morals and Welfare by adding section 9.05.115, titled Unlawful Presence on Land of Another.

“Over the last several years, there has been a noticeable increase in homeless individuals setting up residency on vacant land, some being public lands (BLM) and some being privately owned/unoccupied properties,” McGill detailed in the backup information included with the agenda. “Often, property owners are not local and are, therefore, unaware their land is being used for this purpose. By the time that code enforcement becomes involved, there can be several thousands of dollars needed to clean up and restore the property, at the owner’s expense.”

As an example, during the board’s Sept. 17 meeting McGill cited a recent instance in which a local landowner had to pay $20,000 to a company to clear off their private land in order to prevent a fine from Nye County Code Enforcement.

“We’re well over $100,000 in just the last year,” Nye County Planning Director Brett Waggoner added. “I believe just the Binion property was $35,000 alone paid to the contractor to haul away eight dump truck loads.”

McGill said the purpose of the new code is to authorize the sheriff’s office to make contact with people occupying vacant private property or a property with a vacant building and demand to see a lease agreement.

“If that individual cannot provide a notarized lease contract signed by the owner of record of the property… it allows us to trespass that individual from that property and if that person comes back to that property, it allows us to cite or arrest them, to protect that property owner’s interest,” McGill explained. “That’s the whole goal of this. People who own property in Nye County deserve to have their property rights protected and they do not deserve to be held financially liable by the mess that is created by however many people are living on their property.”

Commissioners were apparently of the same mind, with little debate had about the item.

“As any of us see when we drive around, this problem is just getting worse,” commissioner Ron Boskovich remarked. “This is a great thing and it needed to be here a long time ago.”

“It gives us a lot more teeth to be able to attack this issue,” Nye County District Attorney Brian Kunzi chimed in, while commission chair Debra Strickland added, “I think a lot of our public would like to see this.”

McGill stressed that the new code is specific to private property and does not apply to areas like sidewalks or parks. However, the sheriff’s office is currently working on crafting more code additions to address this too.

Commissioner Frank Carbone made the motion to adopt the bill, with a second from commissioner Bruce Jabbour. The motion passed with all in favor.

The new code goes into effective as of Monday, Oct. 14 and covers all of Nye County.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com