Housing inches closer to families with low incomes

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998 | 11:08 a.m.

With the whir of power drills and the beeping of backing-up construction vehicles behind them, government and private sector partners joined Monday morning to announce $26 million in affordable housing grant awards.

U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan said the grants will help create 5,200 homes for low- and moderate-income homebuyers, including such 119 units costing $505,000 in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas.

"As you can see from the construction going on behind us, affordable housing in our community is a work in progress," Bryan said as workers continued building two apartment complexes for St. Vincent HELP on North Main Street.

The St. Vincent project, which will provide transitional housing for 121 single, low-income residents, is being built with $420,000 in Affordable Housing Program funds awarded last year by the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.

"It's an excellent stepping stone for people," said Laurrie Perez, community relations coordinator for Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, which created St. Vincent HELP. "If you have your own place and your own space, you can begin to rebuild your life."

The San Francisco Federal Home Loan Bank -- one of 12 nationwide -- is awarding grants to 125 housing programs, including six in Nevada this year. A total of $3.6 million in projects statewide have been funded with such grants since the program was created by Congress in 1989 as part of the national savings and loan bailout.

"It was designed to motivate financial institutions to enter into partnerships with local organizations and plant a seed for those organizations to do more," said Jim Yacenda, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco's vice president and community investment officer.

Ten percent of the bank's net earnings, which would otherwise be paid as dividends to shareholders, instead go to a community-based affordable housing sponsor.

John Mowbray, president of the Catholic Charities board of trustees and president of St. Vincent HELP's board of directors, said the program helps put a dent in a growing community need.

In the 1940s, when Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada was incorporated, 17,000 people lived in Las Vegas. Today, Mowbray said, the 1.2 million Las Vegas Valley population includes 17,000 homeless.

"The need for affordable and decent housing in Southern Nevada is one of the biggest challenges we face," Bryan said.

The $26 million announced Monday will actually help leverage more than $600 million total development costs. Some 79 percent of the units will be reserved for individuals or families earning less than 50 percent of the median income for the area in which they live.

"This is more than shelter. It's the beginning of a transformation in these people's lives," said Mary Lee Widener, chairman of the board of Federal Homes Loan Bank of San Francisco.

Locally, Nevada HAND Inc. will use $235,200 in grant money for Buena Vista Springs, Phase III in North Las Vegas to construct 56 housing units for low-income seniors. Another $150,000 in funds will be spent to rehabilitate 39 units at Cimmaron Apartments in Las Vegas for low-income families.

Accessible Space Inc. received $120,000 for construction of the Las Vegas Supportive Housing Development's 24 low-income units for low-income persons with mobility impairments.