Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Homeless census: Fewer veterans on the streets, but more unaccompanied minors

Homeless Census 2013

Leila Navidi

Volunteers conduct a census of the homeless in Clark County on A Street and Washington Avenue in downtown Las Vegas early in the morning on Thursday, January 24, 2013.

The most recent estimate of the homeless population in Southern Nevada, based on a overnight headcount on Jan. 28, offers both good and bad news: The number of homeless veterans has dropped about 44 percent from the previous year, but the number of unaccompanied homeless minors has increased.

The overall homeless number has remained about the same.

This year, 7,509 homeless were counted on Jan. 28 — a point-in-time snapshot that was extrapolated for an estimate of 34,397 homeless people in Southern Nevada. Here are four takeaways from the results released on Wednesday:

By the end of the year, Southern Nevada could reduce veteran homelessness to a "functional zero".

The Obama administration has made it a priority to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015. Phoenix and Salt Lake City have already declared their veteran homeless populations to be at "functionally zero", meaning the demand for housing is less than the number of housing placements available.

"We're totally on track," said Cynthia Dodge, program manager of the Veterans Administration Community Resource and Referral Center in North Las Vegas.

A 44 percent decrease from the same time last year, 692 homeless veterans were enumerated during the point-in-time count. However, Dodge estimates her team will need to house 1,458 homeless veterans in Southern Nevada who seek housing to achieve "functional zero". From January to April, the agency placed 469 homeless veterans into permanent housing. She said they plan to increase their rate from 150 to 200 per month to meet the goal.

A joint HUD and Veterans Affairs program helps with rental vouchers, case management and medical services. But not all homeless veterans want housing; Dodge maintains a list of veterans who have declined housing.

About half of those surveyed said it was the first time they had been homeless.

During the homeless count, more than 900 individuals were asked if they were newly homeless, and 54 percent said yes. It's an eight percent increase over last year.

But the homeless population is declining overall, said Tim Burch, director of Clark County’s Department of Social Services. "We don't have the same funding for chronic and family and youth homelessness as vets, but we hope that comes."

Obama's fiscal year 2016 budget calls for money to end chronic homelessness by 2017 and family, children and youth homelessness by 2020.

Most of Southern Nevada's homeless are local rather than from out-of-state.

About 71 percent said they were from Clark County prior to becoming homeless, and 24 percent said they were from outside Nevada. As in past years, most were renting and lost their jobs, the survey found.

Unaccompanied homeless ages 24 and under make up a large segment of the homeless population.

In Southern Nevada, unaccompanied homeless ages 24 and under accounted for about 30 percent of the homeless.

It's a serious and growing issue, said Arash Ghafoori, executive director of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, a nonprofit that provides emergency shelter, transitional housing and a family reunification program.

In 2014, Nevada surpassed Texas, becoming the state with the fourth highest population of unaccompanied homeless age 24 and under, according to HUD's annual homeless assessment report.

And for at least two years in a row, Nevada is the state with the most unsheltered homeless age 24 and under, according to the same report.

The latest point-in-time count, estimates 825 unsheltered and unaccompanied homeless under the age of 18, with 574 derived from data provided by the Clark County School District. From 2014 to 2015, the number of unsheltered, unaccompanied students in the school district grew 48 percent, 388 to 574. Still, the latest figure is dramatically lower than the Clark County School District's numbers of homeless students which span into the thousands. The reason for the difference is because the January count included only those children who were not under the direct care of a guardian. It also does not include any individual sharing living quarters with other families, staying in hotels or motels, or couch-surfing.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy