Hundreds of people live in these tunnels , '' says journalist Matthew O'Brien . O'Brien has become an expert on the more than 300 miles of underground flood channels and its tunnel dwellers . O'Brien brought the homeless to light , first in articles for the alternative weekly newspaper , Las Vegas CityLife , and then in a book titled `` Beneath the Neon : Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas . '' O'Brien noted the irony of one tunnel entrance near the famous `` Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas '' neon sign . `` I just think the history of Vegas PR is to ignore the bad issues , '' he said . `` The instinct of the city -- and the county -- is to ignore stuff that can be construed as negative press and kind of highlight other things about the city . '' The number of those living in the storm drains varies by the season , O'Brien said . The tunnels become damp and cold in the winter , but hundreds flock into them during the summer to escape the 100-degree desert temperatures . `` It 's much cooler than outside ,
Las Vegas , Nevada -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- More than 37 million people visit Las Vegas each year for its glitz , glamour and lure of hitting a jackpot . Yet few tourists ever see the dingy world beneath the bright lights : tunnel dwellings that have become home to those down on their luck . Steve Dommer and his girlfriend , Kathryn , live in the depths below the Vegas Strip . They created an elaborate 400-square-foot space , complete with a living room , bedroom , kitchen and workshop to fix bicycles . Everything is elevated off the floor with wooden pallets or milk crates because of potential flooding . Their prized possession is a queen-sized bed , found in a Dumpster near the Palms Casino Resort . `` I like to be able to come back and sleep as comfortably as possible , '' Dommer said , patting his bed . By day , he scrounges for change above ground . He 's been living down below for two years . He lost his construction job because of an addiction to speed and heroin . The couple is not alone in the city 's tunnels . ``