Youth homelessness is a serious problem in Nevada. Southern Nevada has, for years, ranked in the top metropolitan areas with the largest numbers of unaccompanied homeless children and youth, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  

In addition to having one of the highest total numbers of unaccompanied young people experiencing homelessness, Southern Nevada has also had one of the highest rates of homeless children and youth living unsheltered on our streets. Not only do we have one of the worst problems of youth homelessness in the country, but we are failing these youth by not providing them with adequate resources to even temporarily get them off the streets.

Homeless youth are distinct from homeless adults not just in their ages, but in their circumstances, mindsets, and needs; young people require distinct resources to sustainably end their homelessness. Additionally, youth homelessness has a substantial impact on our community’s work around adult, veteran, and family homelessness: if we don’t devote our resources to getting homeless youth off the streets today, it’s only a matter of time before today’s homeless youth become tomorrow’s homeless adults and families.

If we want to make a meaningful impact on this critical community issue, youth homelessness must be looked at as its own distinct phenomenon with its own unique answers. This is why the Movement is devoted specifically to addressing youth homelessness.

Youth homelessness is caused and sustained by a confluence of many factors and systems. If we want to end youth homelessness, we need to do our best to address the root causes of why young people become homeless and why they stay homeless. Youth homelessness is deeply affected by so many systems in our society, such as the adult and family homeless services system, the child welfare system, the juvenile justice system, law enforcement, and the education system, and so many intersecting issues, such as human trafficking, immigration, LGBTQ issues, gang violence, poverty, residential instability, public health, mental health, systemic racism, and substance abuse. Just as one system or circumstance alone does not write young people’s stories, one system alone cannot effectively solve youth homelessness.

The solution to youth homelessness does not lie with any one agency, system, or sector of society, but with all of us. And this is why the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) has been working with community partners from all sectors to create the community-wide Movement to End Youth Homelessness in Southern Nevada.

Together we can create a coordinated community response to youth homelessness that not only works to get homeless youth off the streets but brings systems together to meet young people’s holistic, diverse needs to set them up for creating the lives they want – and deserve – to live.

Addressing youth homelessness affects all of us: it affects business-owners who need a stable, educated workforce and a strong economy, it affects public servants who oversee law enforcement, criminal justice, child welfare, public health, social services, city planning, and many other components of our government, it affects educators who are working to cultivate the next generation of leaders and citizens, and it affects any non-profit or foundation who is trying to improve our community’s health and wellness. Youth homelessness affects any Southern Nevadan who wants to live in a safe, thriving community.

Young people are incredibly resilient – when connected to the resources and support they need, they tend to not just survive, but to thrive. Devoting our resources to intervening today when homeless youth are still young before they experience further trauma on the streets, is not only more effective in the long-term, but it’s also more cost-effective for our community.

When we get young people off the streets sustainably, we prevent further negative outcomes from occurring and save society significant long-term costs by reducing future incarceration rates, chronic adult homelessness, chronic physical and mental illness, substance abuse, crime, and unemployment, all while creating productive, healthy adults who contribute positively to our community.

The only way we are going to make a real, lasting difference in the lives of homeless young people and the future of our community is if Southern Nevada bands together across fields and across sectors to tackle this complex issue head-on.

Today, we are asking you to #bethemovement to end youth homelessness in Southern Nevada. You can do this by attending and learning more about our annual Southern Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit, taking action to #bethemovement by visiting our Movement Institute Action Center, and learning more about our plan to end youth homelessness in Southern Nevada. You can also click here to sign up to receive email updates on upcoming events, trainings, actions, and more.