HUD chief Ben Carson to tour Las Vegas center for homeless youth

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson speaks at Vaux Big Picture High School in Philadelphia, Sept. 19, 2017. Carson will be in Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 24, 2018, touring a center for homeless youth. (Matt Rourke, AP)

United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson will tour a center for homeless youth during a visit to the Las Vegas Valley on Wednesday.

Carson will tour the Shannon West Homeless Youth Center, and hold a round table discussion with staff and clients Wednesday afternoon.

HELP of Southern Nevada operates the homeless youth center, which moved last year into a 37,000-square-foot building at 1650 E. Flamingo Rd. The new center can house significantly more youth than the previous location on Las Vegas Boulevard North, outside downtown Las Vegas.

HELP of Southern Nevada offers emergency shelter, transitional housing, addiction and behavioral health services and money management at the youth homeless center.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development puts out an annual report on homelessness. The 2017 HUD report showed that Las Vegas was the smallest of the 10 American cities with the largest homeless populations.

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @Journo_Jamie_ on Twitter.