Streeters in Las Vegas: Would You Prefer Living Beneath the Ground?

byjeffjeremy

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6 years ago

Las Vegas is widely acknowledged for providing luxury housing for high rollers and party-attendants who tend to arrive at the city in crowds, but there is actually one part of Las Vegas that is often omitted by such visitors.

Dwelling in streets and having no home is a problem of the entire nation, but in the city of casinos, this problem has acquired a specific angle due to the use of specially designed drain tunnels that were initially constructed in the 1990s by Hydro Conduit Corporation. In fact, there are multiple homeless individuals permanently staying in those tunnels beneath the ground, which is quite a striking situation if to consider the affluence and prosperity of Las Vegas.

The History of the Phenomenon

The story goes that in 2002, Timmy Weber utilized these tunnels to escape from police officers who pursued him for the committed murder of his girlfriend. The streeters living beneath the earth are not actually killers, as they are just those who have faced the most unbearable life calamity such as some life hardship or substance abuse. According to Matthew O’Brien, the writer of a book about Las Vegas’ tunnels and people living there, the true reasons for homelessness are not identical to the ones listed in mass media. He had been working with the streeters for a long time and he named his book ‘Beneath the Neon.’

O’Brien says that homelessness according to his personal life experience is generally not caused by substance abuse, passion for gambling, lack of employment or similar life troubles. Instead, there is a much more difficult problem at the center of this issue. This might be a mental illness or some other serious disease, some emotionally traumatic event and similar troubles. Substance abuse and passion for casino and slots activities along with other similar problems are just some of the methods that are used by people to deal with more perceptible troubles at hand.

The city of Las Vegas had done not so much to help homeless dwellers, so they decided to shape an entire community beneath the ground.

Who Are Those Shadowy People Exactly?

It seems as if the majority of those homeless individuals have lost the path ahead of them at some moment in their lives. Some of these people suffer from emotional trauma, while others might have lost their place of employment or have been impacted by substance intake. The ease with which people can get access to gambling affairs adds seduction even further, so some of the tunnel dwellers continue to give away their cash for gambling purposes.

Although some homeless individuals are absolutely jobless, others are trying to earn at least the minimal amount of cash, which means that they do not have much to support themselves. They are extremely close to being seduced by gambling, so eventually they end up using all the money they own. They choose to live in tunnels as their last chance to survive as they are not accepted anywhere else.

It is not in any way easy to stay in such places. It has been shown in certain documentary movies that tunnel dwellers need to decide how they will position their beds and belongings to prevent all of their things from being flooded, as the direct function of those tunnels is to guide the storm water floods away from the city.

Due to the ruination taking place in the tunnels as well as the tendency of people to move around, it is almost impossible to find out how many individuals are currently staying in those tunnels at this or that time. Nevertheless, it is suggested that their number varies between 200-300 people, which wholly depends on the climate conditions, season and some additional factors.

Help is Close

Matthew O’Brien found out that there were people living in those tunnels when he was investigating the case with TJ Weber. He simply made an attempt to get a clear idea what Weber must have felt when he was hiding in those tunnels while escaping from police officers, but he never thought that he would find a whole community of streeters staying in those shadowy tunnels.

He then founded the Shine a Light Foundation to assist those people in need. The mission of the foundation was to assist hundreds of people who were living beneath the ground in Las Vegas. The program suggested that there was a dire need to go deep into those draining systems and provide help to that hidden part of the population by addressing their individual needs.

The company offers such services as the assistance with dwelling opportunities, counseling regarding drug abuse, management of individual cases, training for future employment and GED project. The foundation also provides people with the necessary food and water, as well as clothes, headlamps, flashlights and other equipment. According to the founder of the company, drug addiction is a rather big issue among tunnel dwellers, even though drug dealing is not as customary as it was suggested by previously made reports.

O’Brien claims that over 90 percent of all tunnel dwellers are either drug or alcohol addicts or regular casino users. There are cases when the mixture of all three can be encountered. The drug dealing issue is not so common there. However, many of the local dwellers often serve as intermediaries or have similar roles to play.

The company’s founder also helps individuals to get access to the HELP organization, which solves the most difficult problems of the population. This organization is responsible for distributing housing among desperate individuals and helps them to deal with the substance abuse by providing counseling services.

The Current Situation

The latest report as of 2017 demonstrates that Las Vegas represents the smallest US city according to its size, but has the largest quantity of homeless dwellers. The research demonstrates that around 6500 homeless individuals lived in Las Vegas in 2017, which indicated that this city had the 8th largest population of streeters in the country. This also shows an increase of around 280 people from the quantity of homeless people identified in 2016.

The local authorities and charity organizations have made numerous attempts to find the best solution to the problem in order to decrease the scale of homeless people living in streets and beneath the ground on the territory of Las Vegas. The newly implemented strategy is supposed to be launched this spring and has been planned to be adopted after the Haven for Hope project in Texas.

The goal of the given program was to unite the homeless individuals and give them access to a wider variety of social services, such as safety, movable restrooms and other privileges.

Las Vegas also bristles with numerous shelters for homeless people, such as Family Promise of Las Vegas, the Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada and some others.

The Las Vegas Rescue Mission is one of such shelters that provide assistance to the local streeters regardless of age and gender. The Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada provides such privileges as family and child catering services, help for the elderly, food and supplements as well as shelter and housing services. The Shade Tree is another shelter that provides various privileges for women who are abused or children experiencing emotional trauma.

Nevertheless, Matthew O’Brien suggests that there is not enough assistance provided to the homeless people dwelling in the city. Las Vegas’ home prices are very high, so that people who have low-paid jobs or those who happen to be unlucky end up being incapable of affording such housing.

At one time, they turn into homeless people, and today, there are not enough companies who are committed to the issue of solving these primary problems. The city itself is not really focused on helping the needy people.

It is often claimed that people who come to Las Vegas in search of an American dream often find themselves at the bottom of the well. It might be a proper place for the homeless, because it is never too cold there and there is much cash circulating around the city. However, the city dwellers can also be greedy and selfish. Most of the primary clients here are tourists, and not the homeless, which is explained to them day by day.

Why Do People Choose Tunnels as a Place to Live?

There are several reasons why streeters continue to reside in those tunnels. Some of them just cannot afford any shelter mentioned above. They might have pets that are not welcomed there or they might be married and do not wish to visit the shelter without their beloved ones.

Some other people just cannot afford getting a bed in such shelters as only those who get in a queue very early can safely obtain their place for the next night. If you cannot get in line too early, you would most definitely be deprived of such an opportunity because of the insufficient number of beds available. If you have to go to work during that time, be it a regular job or some additional job place like checking the slot games for some extra cash left by previous owners (which most tunnel people prefer doing as a major source of income), you would not get your bed in a shelter and might actually resort to sleeping comfortably inside the tunnels.

Additionally, some shelters follow a special rule that presupposes depriving certain people of access due to their drunken state or being high, which can actually indicate that those who have troubles with drug abuse will most probably end up living underground permanently.

Above that all, shelters come out to be not a perfect solution to all problems. This is because various transmissible diseases are commonly spread in such shelters and the theft of footwear is also common for such places. Certain homeless people also die at shelters because of improper ventilation, and sometimes women are sexually abused so that they might even feel much more secure living in the streets.

Basically, such tunnels are generally dry and quite clean. O’Brien says that in spite of the seclusion experienced by those in need, there are certain rules that have to be considered. He admits that these include the inability to enter another person’s place of residence without a special permission, as well as the prohibition to go to the bathroom or make the surroundings messy nearby the residential territories. The homeless people are always united during the difficult times when staying in the tunnels.

It is also significant to mention that some people opt for living in the streets and do not necessarily end up living in the tunnels. There are specific categories of people who are capable of living in such places, and O’Brien claims that he has spoken to many people who have numerous reasons to reside in dark tunnels. He admits that some of those individuals often claim that they live there due to some personal reasons, such as the better privacy, protection from weather calamities, seclusion from tourists and police officers and others. Nevertheless, not every person decides to live in such dark places that can sometimes flood your feet with water for a minute or two. Those who are afraid of liquid, darkness and insects generally tend to avoid such places.

Some of such individuals also feel as if they have shaped their own community beneath the ground. It might not seem like the perfect territory for living but it is often the best variant accessible. As there are many homeless people staying in tunnels, they do not feel lonely in any situation and it often happens to be a much safer and healthier option than staying in shelters.

A documentary movie released by The Guardian clearly demonstrates that homeless people living in tunnels often forget about the world above them. It is as if they have their personal world around.

It is definitely heart-breaking to see so many streeters in Las Vegas where its topmost number reached almost 10,000 people in 2010. Some part of the subsequent decline indicated the number of homeless individuals living in families, so that in 2017, there was the lowest number of such individuals amounting to 300 people, while in 2008, this number almost reached the rate of 2,000 people in total. However, there is still much to be done to assist all those streeters in Las Vegas, even though it is obviously true that the life in tunnels will continue for many years ahead.

Evidently, every one of us is doing our best in order to get going using the only means we find appropriate.