Evictions on ‘The Hill’ the latest obstacle for Pahrump’s homeless population

THE HILL — Tina Meyers has been homeless in Pahrump since August 2018, ever since she says her ex-husband was arrested for kidnapping.

She currently lives on “The Hill” — the expansive desert homeless camp in Pahrump just east of Highway 160 behind Smith’s Food & Drug — in a broken-down RV with no electricity or running water.

She says she doesn’t drink or do drugs and suffers from no serious mental illness. She receives SNAP food benefits from the state and doesn’t have a job. The Nevada Outreach Training Organization and the NyE Communities Coalition have helped Meyers with her employment searches and training — but there are other obstacles to overcome before she gets on her feet.

“They’re trying to help me get a job, but it’s hard when you don’t have a shower,” Meyers said. “That’s the main issue I’m having. It’s hard to get a job if you can’t shower.”

The closest public pay showers are at Horizon Market at Highway 372 and Linda Street.

It’s a 12-mile, one-way trip that Meyers would have to walk because she doesn’t have a car. Round trip it could take 12 hours out of her day just to get clean, but the extreme desert heat means she’d likely be sweaty by the time she makes the trek back to The Hill.

Her RV there isn’t really secure, and if Meyers is gone for an extended period of time, she worries her belongings could be vandalized or stolen.

It’s a misfortune her homeless friend, Summer Grubb, has already experienced.

Grubb has been without safe and secure shelter in Pahrump for five years, and detailed some of her challenges in that time.

“I had just got a job at the Dollar Tree,” she said. “Finally, someone gave me a chance.”

Then one day when she came back home, her trailer — along with all of her possessions — were just gone.

“There were tire marks,” Grubb said. “You could see where they dragged it through the desert.”

For days, Grub searched the area around Pahrump for her trailer. When she finally found it, she called the Nye County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies allowed her to collect her belongings inside, but since she couldn’t prove ownership of the trailer, she couldn’t claim it and basically forfeited the shelter that provided her with a sense of security and stability.

Being homeless is difficult and securing basic amenities is a daily struggle for the population on The Hill.

Carrying enough water in bulk for their daily needs, for instance, is a challenge that can consume a lot of time and energy — especially in extreme weather.

Joy Divine Community Church in Pahrump had recently been supplying water in a large tank for the encampment, until residents on The Hill say they were notified their water source was being confiscated.

“It’s a big water tower [tank] that we use for water as a community,” Meyers explained.

Joy Divine Community Church did not respond to voicemails seeking comment.

Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill told the Pahrump Valley Times the homeless camp is located on private property and its owners wanted to evict any tenants squatting on their land. The water tower there was a casualty in the case.

“…We have been asked to get everybody off the property,” McGill said, adding that the tank installed there by the church to help residents of The Hill access water was removed at the request of property owners.

It was a gut punch for residents on The Hill who were given a week to vacate from any private parcels they occupied with tents or RVs.

“We’re trying to do our best to stay alive, and then they took our water and it’s 110 degrees outside,” Grubb said.

Not a malicious matter

The evictions on The Hill aren’t malicious — it’s just how modern property laws are enforced.

McGill said his department doesn’t typically intervene with mass land evictions like that, unless the property owner requests it and can prove people are occupying their site without permission.

“They’re pitching camp on your property, and they’re living there for three months, and there’s no trash receptacles of any kind,” McGill explained in defense of the property owner. “Then they decide to move out, or they get thrown out, and now you — the property owner — have got to go in there and clean it up. And it costs money.”

It’s not difficult to understand both sides.

There are also public health issues on The Hill because there are no proper toilet facilities there.

Nevertheless, Meyers says it’s the fourth time she has been forced to move.

She doesn’t have the means to tow her RV to a different location, even the nearby undeveloped federal lands where campers may stay legally for up to 14 days under parameters enforced by the Bureau of Land Management.

Even if she manages to settle on BLM land just east of Highway 160 behind the Department of Motor Vehicles, it won’t solve her other problems. It also creates another one since she will no longer be able to walk to the businesses and service providers immediately west of The Hill.

“…A lot of us don’t have cars, so how are we supposed to get down to town to do anything?” Meyers said. “We’re not going to be able walk it.”

Residents of The Hill say the stress from housing uncertainties weighs heavily on them. They partly blame county commissioners for failing to deal with mounting problems.

In December, the Pahrump Valley Times reported that county officials blocked an affordable housing project at Blagg Road and Basin Avenue.

“They’re not helping the problem,” Grubb said. “You can’t just kick someone out of the community because you don’t like homeless (people).”

Ahead of her vote to reject the affordable housing project in December, Nye County Commissioner Donna Cox told developers that Pahrump did not “need it here” because “it encourages things we don’t want.”

Cox also took aim at homeless individuals and low-income occupants who might have qualified for the housing.

“A lot of people like to live that way,” Cox said at the time. “I’m sorry, but they do… They have money, and they gamble it away and they drink it away and they use drugs.”

Grubb says all homeless individuals get labeled for the “bad things some people do.”

Many don’t understand how difficult it can be to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.

“Once you get in there, it’s really hard to get back out,” she said. “Now, the day is all about survival.”

John Clausen is a freelance reporter in Pahrump.