LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The number of people facing homelessness in Southern Nevada continues to grow.
On Wednesday, Clark County released the results of their annual census, which was carried out by volunteers on Jan. 25, 2024.
On any given night, 7,906 people in Clark County are experiencing homelessness. That’s a 20% jump compared to 2023 and a 36% jump compared to 2022.
Clark County
According to county data, the most impacted groups are women, African Americans, and those between 35 and 44 years old.
Clark County
County officials add that while individuals experiencing homelessness currently represent less than 1% of the overall population, the number of people and proportion relative to the total population have been rising.
Those trends “indicate a potential shift towards increased homelessness” and allow county officials to plan for the future, including putting proactive measures in place like adding additional shelter locations and adding affordable housing and permanent supportive housing programs.
How do we compare to other cities?
When looking at national data, Las Vegas is number 11 when it comes to the largest population of those experiencing homelessness on a single night.
(Note: Las Vegas numbers include those people in shelters as well as people on the street. Other major cities ranked lower on the list below only provided shelter-only counts. Based on shelter-only rates, Las Vegas would rank in the 20 to 25 range.)
Clark County
What is causing homeless rates to go up in Southern Nevada?
One of the biggest factors in the rise of homeless rates is housing affordability and income.
For example, between 2021 and 2022, median household prices surged by over 35%, according to Clark County. Officials add that income did increase but was “comparatively slower, growing at approximately half the rate of the surge in median household prices and Fair Market Rents.”
That tracks with data from the Princeton University Eviction Lab, which tracks housing and rent costs across the country.
Over the past year, there have been 51,825 eviction filings in Las Vegas, which is up 42%, compared to an average year before the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking closer, there have been 4,983 eviction filings in just the last month, which is up 63%, compared to an average year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of those evictions are in the central or eastern part of the valley.
Princeton researchers say the data in Clark County is likely an undercount because those records “are only available with a delay”.
Princeton University Eviction Lab
Princeton University Eviction Lab
What are valley officials doing to help those experiencing homelessness?
In Clark County, there are 9,013 total beds for people experiencing homelessness. That number includes emergency shelters, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, other than permanent housing, and rapid rehousing.
According to the 2024 census data, only 7,635 of those beds were used on any given night, or about 85%
Clark County has been looking for ways to add beds and last year, they opened the Clark County Navigation Center. A former Motel 6 was converted into temporary housing for up to 70 people. The Vintage Safari Motel was also converted into transitional housing.
WATCH: Vacant motel transformed into Betterment Community for homeless populations in Las Vegas
Vacant Las Vegas motel transforms into shelter for homeless Nevadans
In response to the 2023 homeless census, Clark County also added non-congregate shelter beds to help individuals find safer and more suitable accommodations and get more people off the street.
In May, Clark County commissioners approved over $66 million in funds to go towards constructing and rehabilitating affordable housing units for low to extremely low-income residents. That round of funding is going to nine projects, which will create 1,273 units.
The City of Las Vegas also has the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center, which has case managers to help people navigate the resources they need to get off the streets. That includes a computer lab, medical care, laundry room, showers, bathrooms, and a kennel for people’s animals.
The Courtyard also has a free Arrow shuttle that transports people to service providers such as the DMV, Nevada Job Connect, and the Goodwill Career Center.
Las Vegas also has a Multi-agency Outreach Resource Engagement, or MORE, team. They provide mobile intervention and outreach services to homeless individuals that live in encampments, the street, flood control tunnels, and outlying uninhabited areas around Las Vegas.
You can learn more about those resources here.
WATCH: Learn more about the MORE Team and the work they do in Las Vegas
13 Investigates: What’s being done to address homelessness in the Las Vegas Valley?
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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