Central Las Vegas residents worry as homeless population grows in vacant building

By Madison Kimbro

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Reports of homeless individuals living in a vacant building on Tropicana Avenue and Mojave Road have residents in the neighborhood on edge.

“I would say in the last six months it has really gotten bad. There’s a lot of them over there and I don’t want to approach them and it’s not my property,” Joleen Claessens told 8 News Now.

Claessens lives in Montara Estates, located near the vacant building that sits on the corner of Tropicana Avenue and Mojave Road. She and other neighbors said that ever since the building closed down, those experiencing homelessness have made their way in, making it their own personal shelter on the block.

“There are over 15 homeless people living in that building. They are accumulating garbage, and we have had windows broken into and people have been harassed going up and down the street. It’s a problem we have to get taken care of,” David Carollo, who lives at Montara Estates shared with 8 News Now.

Carollo, who has lived in the community for 30 years, said he’s called the owners of the building to see if they know what was going on.

“They said that they are aware of the problem and knew about it and tried to take care of it, but they’ve just given up, I think,” Carollo said.

Las Vegas Metro police told 8 News Now they have received numerous complaints over the past couple of months and are working to curb the problem. Since February, they have routinely come by the property to try to clear out the homeless. The next cleanup is set for next week.