Las Vegas Veterans Village could help homeless veterans get off the street

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — Many of our nation’s heroes live without a home across the Las Vegas valley, but a new development in North Las Vegas hopes to change that.

The Las Vegas Veterans Village would house 112 individuals and be built at the corner of Centennial Parkway and Pecos Road in the shadow of the VA Hospital.

Gavin Naples with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation who is leading the project said they are choosing this spot because of Las Vegas has the second highest amount of unhoused veterans in the nation.

“We wanted to make a tremendous impact there for our heroes,” Naples said.

Naples said the problem is vastly underreported with 35,000 homeless veterans nationwide and more than 2,400 in southern Nevada. Those numbers are according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

They are going beyond housing to help.

“It’s not enough to just provide high-quality housing accommodation to a veteran who may be struggling,” he added. “We look to provide that platform of case management, behavioral health, and entitlement assistance, employment assistance.”

Those services would be offered at this new development, which is still in the early stages. But during the wait, there are other options.

“Anywhere in the nation where a veteran is struggling or their family they can call our foundation we provide them direct financial assistance to get them housed in their area,” he said.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is waiting on zoning approval from commercial to residential from the city of North Las Vegas Planning Commission on Oct. 9.

If approved, they can then begin development, which is expected to take one to two years, and it’s all paid for by the foundation.

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