On the night of Jan. 29, 2026, Clark County’s latest Point-in-Time Count found 8,859 people experiencing homelessness, a roughly 12 percent jump from the last full count in 2024. The one-night snapshot recorded about 5,017 people living unsheltered and 3,842 in emergency shelters or transitional programs, and it highlighted high rates of mental-health and substance-use needs among those surveyed. In Boulder City, Social Services teams reported making contact with 11 people during the count.
Breakdown of the count
The totals and subcategory figures appeared in a county news release and were shared publicly on X by the City of Boulder City. According to City of Boulder City, the PIT counted 5,017 unsheltered people and 3,842 sheltered people. Within that, 2,074 people were identified as chronically homeless and 605 were veterans. The same summary lists 499 families, totaling 1,630 people, along with 896 people in emergency shelter under age 18 and 246 people in shelter aged 18 to 24. In all, 3,638 people reported mental-health challenges, or 41.07 percent, and 3,068 reported substance-use issues, or 34.63 percent.
What the count does — and doesn't — show
The Southern Nevada Homelessness Continuum of Care coordinates the regional PIT and partners with county and city agencies to carry out the one-night survey and follow-up outreach, according to the SNHCoC. Federal HUD guidance describes the PIT as a single-night snapshot that shapes funding and program priorities, while acknowledging it undercounts people who are doubled up, staying temporarily with friends or family, or otherwise out of sight of street teams. The technical rules and methodology are laid out in HUD's PIT and Housing Inventory Count guidance. In a county news release, Jamie Sorenson, Clark County Director of Social Services, said, “This year’s Point-in-Time Count reflects a careful, consistent approach to gathering accurate data on homelessness in our community.” (Clark County).
Local reaction and next steps
Officials and service providers say the new totals will drive decisions on outreach, shelter planning, and funding requests across the valley. Clark County and the SNHCoC have been using PIT and Homeless Management Information System data to prioritize rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, and outreach teams, and both agencies say this year’s count will feed into system planning in the months ahead. Advocacy groups argue that one-night counts rarely capture the full scope of housing instability, and they point to the high share of behavioral-health and substance-use needs in the data as evidence of a persistent gap between shelter capacity and longer-term housing plus services.
In Boulder City, officials say the small team that connected with 11 people on Jan. 29 shows how even brief, local outreach can play a critical role in getting people plugged into help. The county release and the city’s post on X are both available online for readers who want to dive into the full dataset and see the breakdowns by jurisdiction.
