Helping the homeless is a good thing – but residents of a suburban neighborhood in Las Vegas say there’s been a lack of transparency and due process in a new project.
In 2023, Nevada lawmakers approved $100 million in funding for Campus for Hope, a $200 million housing project meant to address homelessness in the city. The rest of the money is being provided by a nonprofit backed by the gaming industry.
The proposed site is the 6100 block of West Charleston Boulevard near Jones Boulevard, and two property owners who live about three blocks away have decided to fight it by filing a lawsuit. They say their quality of life, safety, and home values will be affected by the “arbitrary decision” to place the facility in the current location.
As 8 News Now reports, the suit, which was filed in Clark County District Court, alleges that state officials violated Nevada's Open Meeting Law by greenlighting the project without giving residents proper notice or allowing members of the public to comment on it.
Last month, the governor even signed a bill to speed up construction of the project, says News 3.
"Why are they trying to push this $200 million project so secretly into the neighborhood?” said homeowner Matthew Wambolt, one of the plaintiffs in the case, to 8 News Now.
The plaintiffs argue the project creates an “incurable defect” in the location and seek to halt it until independent studies are conducted on the potential impact of the facility.
