Operators of a planned home for autistic girls struggled to find a new location after the building meant to house them was demolished to make room for Campus for Hope, a 900-bed, $200 million complex that offers homelessness services and is backed by the state and the gaming industry. 

Now, lawmakers are questioning why costs for the state-owned girls’ facility have quadrupled in less than two years. 

The project was initially approved in June 2024 by the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee as a 12-bed home for girls with severe autism or other disabilities. At that point, the committee had approved the project for $3.8 million — to be built on a lot on West Charleston and Jones boulevards. 

Six months after that approval, Campus for Hope was approved for the location instead and existing buildings were demolished. The cost of the planned girls’ facility rose to $7.5 million in 2025 with three buildings and 12 to 16 beds. Now, the project is slated to cost $17.5 million with 36 beds and two buildings in collaboration with the Campus for Hope. 

Lawmakers during an Interim Finance Committee — an internal panel of lawmakers that makes spending decisions when the Legislature is out of session — meeting last week questioned why the number of beds, the number of buildings, the location and the cost kept shifting. 

“I have to say I’m a little frustrated that every time we have this item in front of us, it seems like a different story, it’s a different building, it’s a different amount of money,” Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) said during the meeting. 

Jack Robb, Chief Innovation Officer for the Governor's Office, attributed the higher cost to a higher level of care that will be provided and detailed a long struggle to find a new location. The facility is expected to provide Intermediate Care Facility level care, which means 24-hour support, health monitoring and rehabilitation for individuals with learning disabilities. 

“The costs go up dramatically,” Robb said, adding that the nature of these kinds of projects are complicated. “To make them licensable, to meet federal requirements for reimbursement through Medicaid, things change.” 

After the site located on West Charleston and Jones boulevards went to Campus for Hope, Robb said the state struck a deal to build the facility at a reduced cost from a private unnamed contractor who had a personal connection to helping young people with autism. However, Robb said that deal “fell apart,” as did a potential site at St. Jude’s Ranch for Children in Boulder City that does not have the capacity for the level of care needed. 

The site is now set to be built on a nearby parcel of land owned by the Campus for Hope — during the meeting, Robb thanked the organization for its partnership. Contracts are expected to be finalized in March, Robb said, with a slated construction start date of April 1. 

Other lawmakers questioned Robb on why the increased cost was not communicated to the Legislature at the fall special legislative session. During the meeting, Assm. Daniele Monroe-Moreno (D-North Las Vegas) criticized the Department of Administration for not informing lawmakers of the changes made to the plans. 

“Neither one of us was informed that there had been changes,” Monroe-Moreno said, referring to herself and state Sen. Marilyn Dondero Loop (D-Las Vegas), who is chair of the Interim Finance Committee. “There was no communication with us.” 

Monroe-Moreno said she was “extremely frustrated” and “disappointed” in how the project was progressing, adding that a continued delay of the project was emotionally harmful for the families of girls eligible to be housed in the facility. The facility is intended for girls who cannot be placed in foster care or need more support than existing facilities in Nevada can provide. 

The Department of Administration did not respond to a request for comment in time of publication.