LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — While thousands of dollars change hands above ground on the Las Vegas Strip, hundreds of people are living in complete darkness just feet below, beneath some of the city’s biggest casinos.
FOX5’s Victoria Saha joined the Shine a Light organization to explore the tunnels and discovered why getting people out is much harder than getting them help.
Life underground
On a weekend morning, Shine a Light volunteers and organizers spread across the valley. They announce themselves before stepping into a place many call home.
The team met a man named Dave, who has been living in the Las Vegas tunnels for eight years. When asked what brought him to the tunnels, Dave said it was being “out of sight, out of mind.”
Dave’s camp holds what makes this home — a bed, a small light and art. A reality that seems unfathomable to most.
For Rob Banghart with Shine a Light, the tunnels were also once his home for two years.
“The last year that I was here I was like I’m going to die out here. I was in complete acceptance of it,” Banghart said.
Banghart said he was homeless for 5 years, it took an violent attack for him to be sent to the hospital and be contacted by Shine a Light Foundation.
When asked what brings him back every week, Banghart said, “It became the healing process for me to back and see it from a different perspective and help people and show that I was out and living a good life was possible.”
Barriers to leaving
Speaking about someone like Dave, Banghart explained what stops people from getting out of the tunnels despite available help.
“He is so used to being homeless that not being homeless is very scary,” Banghart said. “That’s foreign to him to come in and follow rules and to do this. You lose hope. You start to think you aren’t even worthy of it.”
The contrast is stark. Saha and Banghart found themselves directly beneath Caesars Palace as they walked through the tunnel.
“Like $5,000 chips being gambled above us, and the people living directly underneath are homeless,” Banghart said.
Economic pressures
In tough economic times, the tunnels may become a last resort. Clark County data shows 33,340 eviction filings this year.
“Everyone out here is somebody’s somebody. They are going through a crisis,” Banghart said.
The crisis is met with darkness. FOX5’s Victoria and the volunteers shut off all lights to show what those living there face- complete darkness.
As they stepped back into the light, the Strip immediately overpowered what they had just left behind. The distance between these two worlds is just a few feet.
Building trust
During these visits, Shine a Light offers hygiene kits and meals, but never anything that would make it easier for someone to stay homeless. They want to build trust with those living in the tunnels to eventually convince them to come out, then move on to temporary housing and detox treatment.
That trust can only be built with each visit.
This year, Shine a Light Foundation has 352 active clients. All were homeless a year ago. Many of their recipients come back as volunteers, just like Banghart did.
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