Plus: Is Goldman Sachs good now?
| | | | Hey readers, this week we took a trip underground to explore why some homeless people in Las Vegas live in storm tunnels beneath the city...
Las Vegas has one of the worst rates of urban homelessness in the country. But amid a shortage of homeless services, an increasingly severe affordable housing crisis and hostile policies toward homeless people, many feel they have no other choice than to endure dangerous conditions living underneath the nation's gambling capital.
What do you think? We'd love to hear from you. Cheers, Laura and Kyla |
|
|
|
|
| | | Donovan looked out on the swanky casino looming in the distance. Traffic whizzed along the nearby highway overpass. He stood, sockless in tennis shoes, at the mouth of the concrete tunnel where he lives, a five-minute walk from Caesars Palace hotel. Graffiti covered the tunnel walls that disappeared into darkness behind him.
He has been taking shelter in the concrete flood channels and tunnels that run directly under the Las Vegas Strip for the past two years. These dark passageways are part of a huge drainage network designed to protect the glittering casino district and its sprawling suburbs from flash flooding. And Donovan’s not alone down there. It’s estimated that nearly 300 homeless people live in these tunnels.
Although the figure represents just a fraction of the thousands living on the streets of Las Vegas, the tunnel dwellers are among the most difficult to reach for the social workers, who work below ground by flashlight to offer everything from clean socks and sandwiches to a chance at substance abuse treatment. Those living here choose to go underground for a variety of reasons, authorities say, but many suffer from substance abuse ― including heroin, crack and meth ― alcoholism and mental illness.
The conditions they endure are extreme. A heavy rainstorm can send millions of gallons of water rushing at up to 30 miles an hour through the concrete drainages. The last three flood-related drowning deaths in the city involved homeless people in the tunnels, said Erin Neff, spokesperson for the regional flood control district. “It’s tragic, to put it in one word.”
|
| |
|
|
|
| | | | | | Goldman Sachs Is The First Major U.S. Bank To Reject Financing Arctic Oil Drilling [HuffPost]
How Bike Sharing In The U.S. Became This Decade's Biggest Transport Success Story [Curbed]
GM Rolls Out Big New Chevy SUVs Despite Global Climate Change Concerns [HuffPost]
These 3 Supertrees Can Protect Us From Climate Collapse. But Can We Protect Them? [Vox]
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | | HuffPost is now a part of Verizon Media Group. On May 25, 2018 we introduced a new Privacy Policy which will explain how your data is used and shared. Learn more.
©2019 HuffPost | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates from HuffPost
Feedback | Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
