Las Vegas Mayor Announces Campus for Hope Facility to House People Experiencing Homelessness

Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley made homelessness a centerpiece of her second State of the City address Wednesday, pledging to overhaul the city's approach while calling the issue more difficult to solve than she anticipated when she took office in December 2024.

"I will not allow the City of Las Vegas to become another San Francisco or Los Angeles," Mayor Berkley said. "We will deal with this problem now, while we can. Human beings should not be living on the streets. It's dangerous, it's unhealthy, it's not good for people, and it's also not good for businesses, both small and large."

Berkley delivered the address at Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. Alongside homelessness, she highlighted infrastructure projects in housing, transportation, and traffic safety.

"The city has been engaged in this program that provides expertise and knowledge to successfully address the issue of homelessness in our community," she said. "Homelessness persists in the downtown core, despite significant investment in outreach, housing, and supportive services."

Berkley said she was among 24 newly elected mayors selected for a Mayors Challenge program run by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with Harvard University, which provided research, strategies, and practical guidance on addressing chronic homelessness and traffic safety over the past year.

The mayor praised the Campus for Hope, a 900-bed facility with wraparound services slated to open in 2028, and announced the expansion of the city's Multi-Agency Outreach Resource Engagement team from a law enforcement-only model to one that includes mental health professionals, health workers, and emergency medical technicians.

Berkley acknowledged the root causes driving people to the streets — job loss, addiction, and family disruption — and pledged to avoid punitive approaches in favor of broader access to medical and mental health services.

"Las Vegas is doing well," she said. "But we are not immune from what's happening in the world: parking, road construction, a soft economy, the cost of gas, and uncertainty in the world affect Las Vegas like every other city in the country."