Mobile showers across Las Vegas help the unhoused cool off during extreme heat wave

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Mobile showers are being dispatched across Las Vegas to help the unhoused cleanup and cool off during this extreme heat wave.

Clark County partnered with organization “Clean the World” to provide three sites a week for the unhoused to take a shower and get free toiletries. The demand has grown in the Valley’s housing crisis, which has also seen a rise in the number of people who are homeless.

“We don’t discriminate. We don’t turn anybody away as long as they can be respectful of the time of others. But it’s families living in vehicles, families in shelters and individuals, unhoused individuals on the street at some of the encampments or just behind stores anywhere around town,” said Will Allphin with Clean the World in Clark County.

Different mobile shower sites have consistent schedules, and Allphin said many people rely on them as “regulars.”

Clark County officials said their sites are often staffed by social workers offering various services for housing, healthcare, mental health, and dental care. Social service workers have told FOX5, when teams approach the unhoused in encampments, many often are hesitant to accept services or housing, but are encouraged to show up with the promise of a free shower.

“Is it’s a positive interaction. And it just leads to health. And it’s also I think, just a respectful, dignified way to treat our unsheltered neighbors in Clark County,” said Jamie Sorenson, Director of Social Services of Clark County.

“It is a gateway toward getting an ID, possibly getting housing, getting employment, getting mental health services. We really try to use the showers as a tool to network people into a system that could offer them some opportunity for independence,” Sorenson said.

For more information on locations and times, click here: Fresh Start

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