Copeland, like many other unsheltered locals who sleep on Las Vegas streets, alleys or sidewalks face possible arrest under a camping ban the city implemented in 2020.

Nevada’s unhoused population has grown, but experts say statistics don't give an accurate view of the complex nature of homelessness.

Homelessness isn’t a modern problem. It goes back at least 2,000 years. The Bible and Quran talk about it, with both stressing the importance of charity for the homeless. In 2023, though, people wonder if charity is enough. In modern times, states fund job training, hoping that putting people to work will overcome economic need, which often leads to homelessness.

The homeless crisis in Western cities has a scope of challenges that require dense cooperation between various nonprofits, government, health care, service providers and business interests, according to a UNLV roundtable discussion on the topic Wednesday organized and sponsored by Nevada Women’s Philanthropy.

A new approach to serving Las Vegas’ homeless population calls for the construction of a facility that offers comprehensive on-site services needed to rebuild someone’s life such as medical and mental health care providers, job training and more.

Summer is coming. For most of us, that means spending all day holed up in air-conditioned buildings and avoiding the outdoors entirely.

This month, lower-income households in 32 states, including Nevada, will receive at least $95 a month less from the federal government to buy food.

"You’ll see guys sleeping under blankets, and they won’t move for a few hours. So, you go to check on them and you realize ‘Oh, he’s dead,’” says Santiago, his face drawn, as he sits with a small group of other men on the sidewalk outside Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada’s main campus. He’s describing what being unhoused is like in Las Vegas — a city with increasingly extreme temperatures because of climate change and a growing homeless population, exacerbated by pandemic-related evictions and a rising cost of living. This combination of factors is leading to a startling increase of deaths among the unhoused: According to reporting done by the Review-Journal, Clark County saw an 80 percent increase in heat-related fatalities among the homeless community from 2020 to 2021.