Las Vegas nonprofit proposes ‘tiny homes’ for homeless

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - As local leaders search for solutions to growing encampments in Las Vegas suburbs, one nonprofit proposes a tiny home solution.

As recently as Tuesday, one Clark County commissioner tasked staff to explore options to add more beds for the unhoused. “We have to have a place where they can go. We can’t just keep moving them, asking them to move, and protecting the neighborhoods,” said Commissioner Tick Segerblom. He ordered staff to deliver a report in three months.

“Leaders here locally are feeling more and pressure from the business owners because [homelessness is] getting more visible,” Merideth Spriggs of Caridad. The group helps run Hebron in Las Vegas and provides support for people on the streets to transition into the workforce and earn income.

She and others recently visited a tiny home community in Austin, Texas for inspiration. The community provides wraparound services for residents.

“I would love to get something like that here,” Spriggs said, who has been lobbying local government officials for years. In 2023, more are asking questions to explore options, she said.

Spriggs hopes to bring 100 tiny homes to a plot of land on the outskirts of the Valley and believes her nonprofit is close to securing funding. The homes could help those on the streets, but could also help many of the families in need across the Valley; the rental crisis has forced many families to resort to temporary options due to evictions, rent raises or the difficult search for a lease.

“We know already that our family shelters are tapped out, and we’re so limited in our family beds in Southern Nevada,” she said.

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