Las Vegas among cities with highest rates of homelessness, study says

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — As homelessness continues to be a crisis across the U.S., many are looking at where the brunt of the issue lies to inform officials and organizations how to better address what’s being called by some an epidemic.

A recent study done by safety resource Security.org sought to gather the most recent data on the homeless crisis and compare it with the number of people in each city and state to discover where the worst rates of homelessness are occurring.

On average, the nation experiences a homeless rate of roughly 168 homeless per 100,000 people.

Some key findings in the report, which took data from federal calculations and official counts, included how black Americans are overrepresented among the nation’s homeless, amounting to nearly 40 percent of the homeless population but only about 13 percent of the country’s total population. Also, men are far more likely to experience homelessness, especially when it comes to those who stay outside a shelter.

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As for Nevada’s rate of homelessness, it comes in with the ninth-highest rate, having around 252 homeless people per 100,000 total residents. It’s among 11 states and Washington, D.C. with a population-adjusted rate higher than the overall national rate.

Fortunately, Nevada is among the majority of states that saw a decline in homelessness since 2014 with a 16.8 percent drop.

Much of Nevada’s problem exists in its largest metropolitan area, Las Vegas, which is among the top ten cities with the country’s highest rates of homelessness.

At number seven on the list, Las Vegas has about 273 homeless per 100,000 residents, less than two homeless away from number six, which is Anchorage, Alaska. While not among cities with the highest homeless rates, Reno, Nevada’s second-largest city, was among cities with the highest increases in its homeless rate at 45 percent since 2014.

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The City of Las Vegas has and is continuing to explore ways to solve its homeless problem, going so far as to consider in an upcoming City Council meeting a controversial ordinance that would make it illegal to sleep in public rights-of-way.

While the ordinance is only enforced if shelters have space available, advocates say the ordinance would hurt those it looks to protect.

Clark County also recently moved to seek solutions to the problem by issuing a release to seek out organizations to provide shelters and services to the homeless.

While officials continue to battle the complex tragedy that is homelessness, experts at Security.org say that the cities seeing the most success are those addressing employment, mental health, and (perhaps most importantly) are providing housing to those that have, one way or another, ended up on the street.