LAS VEGAS (AP) — After changing how numbers are reported, officials say they believe a point-in-time count of southern Nevada's homeless population found about the same number of people living on area streets as in previous years.
Clark County reported Thursday that 7,509 homeless people were tallied overnight last Jan. 27-28.
County spokesman Dan Kulin says officials stopped including an estimate of nearly 2,000 couch-surfing and shed-dwelling "hidden homeless" since last year.
The result: Officials say there were only about 66 more homeless people in and around Las Vegas this year compared with January 2014.
The comparison comes after last year's total was revised down from 9,417 to 7,443.
2013 figures dropped from 7,355 to 5,974.
Kulin says the hidden homeless estimate was eliminated to comply with U.S. Housing and Urban Development reporting guidelines.