Report: 10 percent of Nevadans in food stamp program

By J. Patrick Coolican

Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 | 1:13 p.m.

A new report from local consulting firm Applied Analysis offers yet another grim assessment of the state of Southern Nevada, this time about disadvantaged people and their spiking need for social services.

The state’s food stamp program, which provides nutritional assistance to the unemployed, impoverished and disabled, has seen enrollment increase more than 50 percent in the past year. Nearly 10 percent of Nevadans, or 238,000 residents, are now enrolled. The State Health and Human Services Department estimates the figure will rise to 20 percent of all Nevadans in the coming years.

Given this sharp increase in food stamp recipients – nearly 5 percent in August alone – also unsurprising is a sharp increase in Nevadans served by Three Square. The number of families served by the private nonprofit food assistance program were up 9 percent in August alone and more than 60 percent compared to a year ago.

Welfare caseloads are up nearly 40 percent from a year ago.

The number of homeless children enrolled in the Clark County School District is up 11.6 percent to more than 5,700.

On the plus side, both mortgage defaults and foreclosures are down, both in the most recent period, and over the past year.