How Las Vegas Sands and NPHY Plan to Tackle Youth Homelessness at 2024 Summit

Written By: Deeptesh Ghosh

Deeptesh Ghosh

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July 24, 2024 01:41 GMT+5:30

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The Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) and Las Vegas Sands have announced that the 2024 Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit will take place on Friday, Nov. 8, at Las Vegas City Hall. Registration for this important advocacy event opens on Aug 5.

With support from the UNLV Greenspun College of Urban Affairs and the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the eighth annual Summit aims to advance the Movement to End Youth Homelessness by creating Nevada’s first standalone plan to eradicate youth homelessness.

“We’ve seen an uptick in the number of youth experiencing homelessness, and we know that youth homelessness affects every corner of Nevada,” Arash Ghafoori, CEO of NPHY, said. “In year two of our expanded state wide lens, Summit 2024 continues to be a critical community convening to address the urgent need for action in Nevada and build on the significant systemic work and progress made over the past year. The Movement to End Youth Homelessness is joining communities throughout the state to leverage collective efforts for driving greater change. Summit 2024 will lead the charge in further uniting so that we can create a brighter, safer future for our vulnerable youth.”

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Nevada has seen a worrying 14% increase in youth homelessness from 2022 to 2023. This surge is exacerbated by the state’s severe shortage of affordable housing, with only 14 affordable rentals available for every 100 extremely low-income households, as reported by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

In response, the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) and Las Vegas Sands are spearheading efforts to combat this crisis. A state wide plan to end youth homelessness is set to begin development in 2025, drawing inspiration from the successful Southern Nevada Plan to End Youth Homelessness, which was introduced at the 2018 Summit and involved over 40 local and national stakeholder groups.

This year’s Summit, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 8, at Las Vegas City Hall, aims to consolidate ongoing efforts and outline concrete steps for uniting stakeholders to achieve state wide change. The groundwork laid during this Summit will support the creation of Nevada’s comprehensive plan to end youth homelessness, to be informed by the state wide Youth Experiencing Homelessness Study, concluding in June 2025.

Summit 2024 will feature diverse voices, including youth with lived experience, social service providers, educators, policymakers, federal partners, local and state government representatives, business leaders, philanthropists, and community members. The event will highlight current initiatives within the Movement to End Youth Homelessness and present a bold vision for future actions, emphasizing collaboration and transformative change over the coming years.