Ten years ago, this started as a Southern Nevada conversation. Today, it is a statewide plan in the making.
The 10th annual Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit meets today, Friday, November 13, at the Historic Fifth Street School in downtown Las Vegas. The address is 401 S 4th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101.
Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and Las Vegas Sands co-present the Summit. The UNLV Greenspun College of Urban Affairs and the Las Vegas Review-Journal support it.
The Number That Changes the Whole Picture
The first statewide study on youth homelessness found that almost 3,000 unaccompanied youth across Nevada accessed homeless services in one year.
Here is the part most people miss. The study found the true number could be as high as more than 33,000 young people in a single year.
Why the gap? Many young people stay temporarily with friends or family, live in daily or weekly motels, or land in other unstable housing. They fall through cracks in the systems and miss the official counts.
- Almost 3,000 unaccompanied youth counted through services in one year
- More than 33,000 possible when national trends are applied to Nevada
- Over 350 registered attendees anticipated for Summit 2026
That gap is the point. The counted number is not the crisis. It is the visible edge of it.
What 10 Years Actually Built
The Movement to End Youth Homelessness launched at the first Summit in 2017. Its goal is a safety net that makes youth homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring.
The record is concrete. In 2018, the Movement introduced the Southern Nevada Plan to End Youth Homelessness, the region's first sustained collaborative effort.
In 2019, AB 363 cut the obstacles young people face in getting vital identification documents for work, education, bank accounts and stable housing. In 2021, AB 197 strengthened unaccompanied minors' access to healthcare without parental consent and removed a four-month waiting period.
In 2024, the Movement helped bring in federal grants totaling over $9 million. In 2025, new youth housing facilities opened in northern and southern Nevada, and the first statewide study was completed.
"For the past decade, the Movement has challenged Nevada to dream big about what is possible for young people experiencing homelessness," Arash Ghafoori, CEO of Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, said. "Now it's time to dream bigger together by turning that vision into a concrete statewide action plan."
The Work That Starts Today, and What You Can Do
Today's centerpiece is practical, not ceremonial. In 2026, the Movement is launching the process to create Nevada's first standalone statewide plan to end youth homelessness.
The plan will focus on measurable progress over the next three to five years. NPHY and the Movement Youth Action Board, a statewide leadership body of young people with lived experience, will work with stakeholders across Nevada to complete it by the end of 2027.
The day also features presentations from young leaders, updates on the Nevada landscape, and national experts. Its creative centerpiece is the StorySLAM, now in its second year, where young leaders share their dreams for the future under the theme "Dreams."
Three usable moves for readers:
- Read the Summit program and the plan timeline at nphy.org/summit26, so you know what the statewide plan must deliver by the end of 2027.
- If you run a business or agency, join the coalition work instead of waiting for the finished plan.
- If you know a young person in unstable housing, do not assume they are counted or connected. The study's gap means outreach matters more than the headline number.
Ten years in, Las Vegas is not just hosting a summit. It is hosting the start of Nevada's first real statewide answer.
