LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — For the first time, the 7th annual Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit is expanding statewide.
All day Wednesday, advocates and stakeholders were inside the Smith Center having conversations about how to end the youth homelessness crisis in Nevada. It’s a movement that began in Southern Nevada.
"In order to solve youth homelessness, we have to cover every square inch of this great silver state,” said Arash Ghafoori, executive director of Nevada Partnership Homeless Youth.
The US department of Housing and Urban Development reports in 2022, 12% of youth experiencing homelessness across the United States were residing in Nevada.
Experts on the issue say it can't be solved with a 'one size fits all' solution.
"There are a lot of differences between our northern partners, tribal partners, rural partners and here in Southern Nevada in terms of what homelessness looks like, what types of services youth can access, [and] what types of resources are available in those communities to help young people,” Ghafoori said.
CEO of Reno's youth homeless shelter called 'Eddy House', Trevor Macaluso, says the help is needed.
"Here in southern Nevada, there are multiple shelters and avenues for youth to receive services and get engaged. We only have really the one in northern Nevada, and that being the Eddy House.” Macaluso said.
From here, advocates plan to take further action, gathering new data on the needs of homeless youth across the state. From there, it will inform the development of the first ever statewide plan to address youth homelessness in Nevada.
