Senior overload

Diana Sahagun

Monday, Nov. 29, 1999 | 11:32 a.m.

Every morning senior residents of the Rose Garden apartment complex in North Las Vegas get together for coffee, doughnuts and a bit of conversation.

Some chat up their plans for the day, others keep to themselves. But the feeling around the complex is one of family, one of comfort.

It's a normal morning for the men and women living at the complex run by the North Las Vegas Housing Authority, where 120 units are available to house low-income seniors. The units are usually full.

The seniors are fortunate -- they have a home while 110 others are on a waiting list that can take from six months to two years.

A shortage of low-income senior housing in North Las Vegas has put a strain on the Housing Authority, where there are not enough units to satisfy the growing numbers of seniors. It's not just a problem in North Las Vegas, but across the entire Las Vegas Valley.

Kenneth LoBane, a spokesman for the local U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said for the past five years Las Vegas has led the nation in the number of seniors moving into the community. Many are attracted by the warm weather and the economics of the city, he said, but the dramatic growth has left many without affordable housing.

A $5.2 million federal grant awarded to the Salvation Army last week will help provide much-needed housing for low-income seniors in North Las Vegas.

The grant will fund Silvercrest, the proposed 60-unit senior housing complex to be built on Cheyenne and Equador avenues near the Community College of Southern Nevada Cheyenne campus. Silvercrest will be next door to the Salvation Army Community Center at 2828 E. Cheyenne Ave., which offers activities to the general public.

Silvercrest will be the first senior housing project run by the Salvation Army in the Las Vegas Valley. The one-bedroom units will be modeled after similar HUD complexes throughout the Southwest.

The grant will provide almost $4 million to build the complex and $150,000 a year for rental assistance over five years.

"North Las Vegas has an overabundance of affordable housing, but there is a lack of affordable housing for seniors," Lt. Col. Jim Sullivan of the Salvation Army said. "That's a real crisis."

According to HUD statistics, the two fastest-growing age groups of the Las Vegas Valley population are people over 65 and people under 21.

Joe Vargas, manager for the North Las Vegas Housing Authority, said the shortage of housing for seniors has been a problem for years but seems to be getting better.

"There's no question that the city needs affordable housing for seniors," he said. "We wish we could accommodate everyone, but we can't."

Vargas said while there are 112 people on the waiting list, that number has grown smaller in the 11 years he has been manager.

At the Las Vegas Housing Authority, of the 745 low-income senior housing units throughout the valley, 90 to 95 percent are occupied, said Deloris Sawyer, program manager for the Las Vegas Housing Authority. Approximately 700 seniors are waiting for available low-income housing.

The seniors who live at the housing complexes citywide are qualified based on their income, with rent being 30 percent of their adjusted gross income. Vargas said at Rose Gardens the average income for one senior to qualify is $29,050 a year and average rent is $140 a month.

The qualifications will be similar when Silvercrest opens, Sullivan said. He's hoping that when the complex is ready for seniors in 2001, it will be more than just a housing complex.

"We want the complex to be more than just a place where seniors can live. This complex will serve residents and other seniors in the community by providing activities for them," he said, adding that transportation and activities will be offered to the seniors through the community center.

Outside agencies also have stepped in to help build complexes in North Las Vegas. Two weeks ago the North Las Vegas Planning Commission gave the go-ahead to Nevada HAND, a nonprofit housing development company, to develop a low-income senior housing complex called Buena Vista Springs III at the southwest corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Helen Avenue. A similar project by Nevada HAND just opened in the city of Las Vegas, at 14th Street and Stewart Avenue.

Funding for the project is a combination of private sources, tax credits and county funds.

"We're trying to create housing and a sense of synergy between the organizations to help handle the tremendous growth of seniors," Michael Mullin, president of the organization, said. Construction on Buena Vista Springs III should begin in February.

Meanwhile, the Housing Authority is stepping up its effort to provide more housing.

Vargas said the Housing Authority owns 44 homes in North Las Vegas, which are currently unoccupied. The Housing Authority is planning to sell the homes to fund the building of additional housing.