Las Vegas - They line up hours or even a day in advance, fighting the late-night and early morning cold and sometimes each other.
Hunkered under coats, winter hats and blankets, the dozens of people who can be found each weekday outside the Clark County Social Service building, on Pinto Lane near Martin Luther King Boulevard, are here because of a shared basic need: They don't have enough money to make the rent...
"We have to turn people away because we don't have anybody who can see them," (Nancy McLane, the county's social service director) said. "We can only fit in so many people per day for processing. Sometimes people have to come back three or four times to get in. We've been trying to address it, but we're not getting more staff."...
Previously, the waiting list wasn't started until 10 p.m., when night-time security officers showed up at the building. That waiting list helped, but some people still chose to camp out. "We were concerned to see children out there" so late, McLane said. The department had to increase security months ago when people started showing up at 3 a.m., then at midnight or even earlier to wait in line... People "basically have to be destitute" to be eligible for the program, McLane said.
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