Las Vegas seeks share of HUD rent vouchers

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Las Vegas officials are eager for Congress to increase housing vouchers offered to low-income families because fast-growing Clark County has a swelling number of parents who can't make rent.

The vouchers pay up to 70 percent of the rent for a low-income family and allow workers to live near their place of employment.

President Clinton last week announced that he will urge Congress to approve $690 million as part of his fiscal 2001 budget for 120,000 new housing vouchers to be used nationwide. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development already administers about $9.5 billion in vouchers that reach 1.7 million households.

The Republican-controlled Congress approved none of Clinton's requests for more vouchers between 1994 and 1998. But Congress approved 50,000 new vouchers for 1999 and 60,000 new ones for this year, 1,000 of which were funneled to the Las Vegas Housing Authority.

To qualify for the federal money, Las Vegas families must earn $25,950 or less, Deloris Sawyer, Las Vegas Housing Authority housing program manager, said.

Clinton said one reason to provide new vouchers is that two-thirds of new jobs are being created in the nation's suburbs, away from inner cities where many low-income families live. The vouchers would allow people to live closer to their jobs, Clinton said last week.

Sawyer said that in the Las Vegas area vouchers allow people to live closer to Strip casinos, which provide the bulk of entry-level jobs in the city.

"Without vouchers they wouldn't be able to afford their rents," Sawyer said.

The Las Vegas Housing Authority now administers 2,266 vouchers, roughly $14 million in housing assistance, Sawyer said.

About 600 families are on a waiting list for the newest vouchers, Sawyer said, adding that countless other families qualify. But the housing authority opens the waiting list for vouchers only when money is available.

"We would expect that there would be more families who would be interested, given that this is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country," Sawyer said.

Sawyer said the Las Vegas authority would aggressively compete for any new vouchers that Congress approved.

North Las Vegas and Clark County administer their own housing authorities. North Las Vegas manages 1,044 vouchers.

Clark County manages about 2,200 vouchers and has had as many as 5,000 on waiting lists. One official estimated that only about 20 percent of those who qualify for federal housing assistance get it.

"The need is obviously there," Clark County Housing Authority deputy director Gustavo Ramos said.