Keep Nevada Housed
This article is written by Aaron Sheets, CEO, HopeLink of Southern Nevada.
HopeLink of Southern Nevada has worked over 33 years to successfully prevent homelessness in Southern Nevada.
Now we want to Keep Nevada Housed in a statewide service expansion with you at the heart of that mission.
86,000 Nevada households are spending over 50% of their income on rent. Housing costs have skyrocketed and rental rates remain 33% above 2019 levels. Nearly 300,000 Nevadans—including many low-income families and seniors—are just one financial crisis away from eviction. Our most at risk populations face impossible choices: rent or medication, food, utilities, or transportation.
HopeLink stands in the gap between homelessness and stability. Rental and utility assistance, emergency shelter, and rapid rehousing ensure families and seniors have resources they need to remain housed. Our 2024 partnership with North Las Vegas eviction courts alone has already prevented 1,568 individuals—half of them children—from becoming homeless.
Targeted interventions like Hope4Seniors, provide rent-gap assistance for fixed-income seniors to ensure they stay housed in place while more affordable options are located. On average, rental assistance costs $5,000 per household while costs to stabilize a household if they become homeless rise by 15 times that amount! Early intervention saves families and taxpayers alike from the financial and social toll of homelessness.
Agency growth of 1,600% over the last six years is a strain to maintain, but all sources point to an ever-mounting community need. Assistance amounts we provided in all of 2018 is now distributed every two weeks in 2024. Yet, with Las Vegas having only 14 affordable units for every 100 families in need, our community has the worst affordable housing ratio of any U.S. metro area and statewide numbers are no different. 16,000 of our neighbors will face homelessness this year, many for the first time.
While Nevada’s leaders work on long-term solutions, HopeLink remains proactively at the forefront, providing immediate relief to those in crisis. We are expanding our capacity to serve, securing more grants, staff and space in preparation for serving all of Nevada. But we can’t do it alone.
Be our guest at Evening of Hope on Thursday, November 7, 2024, where you can help ensure that we Keep Nevada Housed now and into the next decade. For more information on the event or to donate, please contact Anna Turner at a.turner@link2hope.org or call 702-566-0576 x330.
Please stand with us and hundreds of donors and dignitaries in this vital effort. It begins with you as our guest on November 7th at Evening of Hope, where together we can Keep Nevada Housed.
With gratitude,
Aaron Sheets
