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Growing number of homeless students in Las Vegas

Posted at 11:50 PM, Aug 28, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-29 02:59:25-04

A disturbing trend is surfacing as we move into a new school year in Clark County. 8,000 students have already identified as homeless and school officials predict that number could double by the end of the school year which would break a record.

In the 2015-2016 school year, nearly 15,000 students were homeless. The trend has gone up consistently.

Arash Ghafoori is the Executive Director for Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth. He says there's many reasons for the increase in homeless youth.

One reason is the demand for services is way higher than the supply, making it more difficult for people to get back on their feet.

Another reason is more people are moving to Las Vegas with an unstable income.

A third reason, according to school officials, is Clark County doesn't have enough low income housing options.

"There's a lot of youth getting kicked out of their homes for things that have nothing to do with socioeconomic reasons," said Ghafoori. "Youth are getting kicked out of their homes simply because of their sexuality, their gender, how they identify."

Despite the problem getting worse in Clark County, there are quite a few programs and resources to help these homeless youth.

Through Title 1 Hope program, the students can receive any toiletries or school supplies that they need, including backpacks.

Through Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, there is a building near Tropicana and Maryland Parkway where kids can go before school or after school. They can shower, eat, relax, watch TV, use the computer, go to therapy, etc. This year, hours were extended at the drop-in center. Kids can take advantage from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Clark County continues to add new programs and resources available to their homeless students to help combat our sad reality of having the third most homeless youth in the nation.