Evaluating Outcomes and Improvements for Las Vegas’ New Approach to Chronic Homelessness
City: Las Vegas, Nevada
Reporting to: Health and Wellness Administrator
The Challenge
Las Vegas faces persistent challenges with people experiencing chronic homelessness in its downtown core. Many of these individuals have complex medical, behavioral health, and substance use needs that exceed the capacity of the city’s traditional outreach and enforcement approaches. In 2024, 45 percent of individuals booked at the city jail were experiencing homelessness; 27 percent reported substance use challenges, and 32 percent presented with mental health needs. These are signs of a system that has been more reactive than coordinated, resulting in individuals cycling between the streets, emergency services, and jail without achieving stability.
City leaders are ready to try a more holistic approach to chronic homelessness. In early 2026, they will launch an initiative they call the Downtown Homeless Intervention 100-Day Accelerator. The idea is to strengthen homeless outreach with teams that include mental health clinicians, connect people more directly to housing and treatment, and support them on the path to long-term self-sufficiency. The initiative aims to approach every person with dignity, respect, and compassion. Behind the scenes, staff are strengthening the cross-sector partnerships needed to coordinate services, as well as collection and integration of data to guide their efforts. The mention of 100 days in the initiative’s name reflects city leaders’ desire to make substantial progress quickly.
Another expectation is that the initiative will continuously leverage data to track outcomes, inform decision-making, and identify improvements needed to make the system work better. City leaders hope to use data-driven insights to strengthen the way the city engages with and supports unsheltered individuals in the downtown core, address inequities in care, and create a model that can eventually be scaled to other high-need areas citywide.
Key questions include:
- How can the city most effectively define and measure outcomes indicating that homeless individuals are making meaningful progress into permanent housing?
- How can multiple data sources (outreach notes, EMS contacts, public safety information, and HMIS entries) be coordinated into a single, usable performance system?
- How can performance routines be developed so teams can regularly review data, identify barriers, and adjust approaches quickly?
- How can the city ensure equity is reflected in who is engaged and connected to treatment or housing?
What You’ll Do
The fellow will develop data tools, insights, and recommendations to help city leaders take stock of what is and is not working in the Downtown Homeless Intervention 100-Day Accelerator, make improvements, and scale up the model citywide. This will involve engaging stakeholders inside City Hall, such as the Departments of Neighborhood Services, Public Works and Facilities, Public Safety, and emergency medical, IT, and data teams. External stakeholders include behavioral health and outreach providers, partners with lived experience with homelessness, downtown business and community representatives, housing and shelter partners, and city residents.
Key deliverables include:
- A performance dashboard integrating data on encounters, referrals, outcomes, and geographic hotspots and needs (map + short narrative), along with instructions for continued maintenance and use.
- A process map detailing current workflows from outreach to referral to follow-up to housing navigation, identifying bottlenecks, delays, and opportunities to improve coordination.
- A synthesis of interviews with behavioral health providers, medical partners, outreach staff, and other stakeholders (2-3 pages).
- A strategy brief (3-5 pages) on how the new approaches downtown can be scaled up to other parts of the city.
- A final presentation on findings and recommendations for city leadership and partners.
What You’ll Bring
The fellow will be expected to possess the following skills:
- Data Analysis
- Policy Analysis
- Mapping (GIS)
- Design Thinking
- Financial Modeling
- Marketing
- Writing and Editing
- Qualitative Interviewing and Analysis
- Spanish Language Fluency (preferred)
