‘Support can truly change everything,’ say homeless youth, advocates at annual summit

Armeir Hymes will always remember Oct. 17, 2023, as the day that changed his life for the better, even if it’s the day he first experienced homelessness.

That’s the day his family was evicted for the first time, Hymes, 18, told the several hundred attendees who gathered in downtown Las Vegas for the ninth annual Nevada Youth Homelessness Summit at the Historic Fifth Street School.

The event was coordinated by the nonprofit Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) and Las Vegas Sands. In addition to testimony from disenfranchised youth, the event featured remarks from Nevada Democratic U.S. Rep. Dina Titus and national and local youth intervention experts.

‘I completely stopped caring’

Hymes was one of seven teens and young adults who shared the circumstances that led to their homelessness.

Although Hymes’ family found a one-bedroom suite a short time later, by then, he said, it was too late. The next thing Hymes knew, he was at a new school, Basic Academy in Henderson. An inescapable feeling of isolation set in.

“Over time, I completely stopped caring about things,” Hymes said. “I was at the lowest point I had ever been in my life.”

Eventually, Hymes said he stopped going to school altogether. He was expelled after skipping class for two consecutive weeks, he said.

By the end of that summer, Hymes’ family was evicted again, prompting his family to seek shelter in North Las Vegas, he said. That’s when Hymes’ mother pulled him aside to tell him it was time for him to live on his own.

“She told me, if I could do better for myself, if I could strive without her … she wouldn’t stop me,” Hymes said.

Hymes went online, and everything changed after that. There, Hymes said he learned about the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, whose mission, according to its website, is to eradicate youth homelessness.

Through the Safe Place prevention program, employees of local governments and businesses such as Terrible’s can alert a mobile intervention team to begin the process of connecting an at-risk youth to homelessness resources, NPHY chief executive Arash Ghafoori said.

Those seeking immediate housing assistance are taken to NPHY’s shelter, which is at an undisclosed location, Ghafoori said.

So that’s exactly what Hymes did.

“My time in the shelter was short,” Hymes said. “They quickly moved me into housing. That new sense of support, having a stable roof over my head, gave me hope again. The staff at NPHY were a huge support.”

With the help of NPHY support staff and a renewed sense of hope, Hymes returned to Basic last year. Hymes said that even though his expulsion erased the junior year credits that should have gone toward his diploma, help from his teachers and NPHY support staff ensured he graduated on time.

“I realized that having stability and support can truly change everything,” Hymes said.

Beyond just Terrible’s, anyone under 18 experiencing a crisis of any sort can access Safe Place resources at fire departments, parks, libraries, police departments and other public facilities across Southern Nevada, Ghafoori said.

Exacerbated by low supply of affordable housing, Titus says

Ghafoori touted an $8.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development given to Clark County in October 2024 to connect homeless youth with affordable housing and wraparound health and wellness services.

But he and others also warned of recently imposed spending cuts and stricter administrative oversight from President Donald Trump’s administration. It has put future funding for programs and local organizations into question, Ghafoori said.

Titus, whose district includes parts of Las Vegas and Henderson, noted youth homelessness is exacerbated by a low supply of affordable housing and cited HUD statistics from 2023 that 12 percent of all homeless youth in the U.S. reside in Nevada.

With Republican majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, Titus said it will require bipartisan support to find creative ways to protect existing programs.

“Those are not statistics for us to be proud of,” Titus said. “They are a reminder of how much we need to do and that we need to start by safeguarding the programs that exist at the federal level to provide some kind of safety net.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal is owned by the Adelson family, including Dr. Miriam Adelson, majority shareholder of Las Vegas Sands Corp., and Las Vegas Sands President and COO Patrick Dumont.

Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky.