Homelessness, in all its forms (chronic, transitional, and episodic), is an issue that affects thousands of people each year all across the state of Nevada. Advocates in the state are calling on already stretched local governments to do more in hopes that it could stop the issue. 

Still, homelessness is too complicated an issue to be solved by overspending. The risk to Nevada taxpayers and the strain that spending to reduce homelessness causes will do very little to fix the problem. 

Spanning more than 110,000 miles, Nevada is the seventh largest state in the union, with most of its population (of more than 3,000,000) concentrated in Henderson, Clark, and Washoe counties. 

Local governments in each area are tasked with the financial and ethical responsibility to adequately maintain roads, provide library services, schools, social care, city services, and the development of housing and planning for their localities. Nevada's booming population growth means that local and state governments have a growing responsibility to the citizens they serve.

Homelessness is a problem that impacts Americans daily across the country. Systemic issues long ingrained within our society are underlying contributors to the lack of available employment and a shortage of affordable accommodations for people all across the nation, including the state of Nevada. According to Nevada Current, efforts to bandage the issue cost the state approximately $369 million dollars in 2019. 

That breaks down to nearly $26,000 per supported individual, more than the price of a full-time salary for an employee earning above minimum wage in the state. Researchers predict that with a climbing population and an increase in the cost of housing, along with the current spending trends, targeting homelessness within the state could cost taxpayers more than $20 billion over the next two decades. With so many other responsibilities, Nevada taxpayers cannot afford to eat the cost of this growing financial burden.

Local and state entities have done much to combat homelessness within the region, ranking Nevada as one of the top spenders on this particular issue. Further spending on supportive care, temporary shelters, medical care, safety, and clean-up in the aftermath of homelessness won't cure the deep systemic problems that have created it in the first place. Those measures will only ensure that there are not enough resources to adequately and fully support Nevada taxpayers.

Refocusing financial efforts in areas that support all Nevada citizens, and taking a more proactive approach in combating the underlying issues that create homelessness, would do more to solve the problem sustainably. 

Local and state governments should not single-handedly shoulder the responsibility of addressing the nation's historic systemic issues. Nevada needs to stop overspending to temporarily put a band-aid on homelessness before the permanent budgets are bled dry.