Deep beneath Las Vegas’ famous strip of glittering lights lies a sinister labyrinth of underground flood tunnels. The 200+ miles of flood tunnels are home to a secret community of over 1,000 homeless people who eke out a living in the strip’s dark underbelly. They’ve turned this way of living into their way of life, and they don’t feel like it’s necessary to change, when they aren’t necessarily hurting anyone by living underneath the Las Vegas Strip. Check out these photos of the interior of the Las Vegas tunnels.

Despite the risks from disease, highly venomous spiders, and flooding washing them away, many of the tunnel people have put together elaborate camps with furniture, ornaments, and shelves filled with belongings.

Some residents like Steven and his girlfriend Kathryn, have furnished their home with considerable care. Their 400sq ft ‘house’ boasts a double bed, a wardrobe, and even a bookshelf.

Tunnel residents have created wardrobes for their clothes and salvaged furniture to make the subterranean world more homely.

Most of the people who are living here are ones who have lost their job, war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress, drug addicts, and even criminals.

They earn their money off the wildly excessive city above by begging and “dumpster diving”, raiding bins and skips. Some still have decent jobs in hotels and such.

Here is one of the exits from the tunnels. Looking in you would not necessarily know that there were people living down here.

One resident poses with her possessions. Sometimes people have to do what they have to do, and this is definitely one of those cases.

Next time you see an entrance to an underground tunnel, you may be thinking twice about what is down there.

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It’s hard to believe something like this exists in one of the biggest cities in the world. Who would have thought that there are people actually living in these Las Vegas tunnels. It’s sad that we live in a world where this goes unnoticed. The homeless population is growing each year and it’s up to us to come up with a permanent solution so that they are not forced to sleep in the underground tunnels of our cities.