Democratic senator, assemblywoman unveil plan for assisted seniors residence

Ken Ritter

Saturday, Jan. 13, 2001 | 10:12 a.m.

The federal and state governments will be asked to help build a state-of-the-art assisted senior living residence in Las Vegas.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and state Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley said Friday that with Nevada's population booming and residents growing older, there aren't enough affordable homes for those who've worked their whole lives but now need some help fixing meals or getting around.

"Nevada's rapid growth has created a demand for assisted living," Reid said. "Unfortunately, low-income seniors cannot always afford the high price of this specialized care."

Reid and Buckley, the Assembly majority leader, outlined their concept for a $12 million campus somewhere in the Las Vegas Valley. It would be built by the government on donated land and run by local nonprofit agencies.

Representatives of Nevada Housing and Neighborhood Development and the Women's Development Center were in the small audience at Clark County's Martin Luther King Center to welcome the announcement by the two Democratic lawmakers.

The Nevada state Statistical Abstract projects the state population, which was 1.9 million in 1998, will top 2.3 million in 2004, including almost 1.7 million in Clark County. The state should have 300,000 residents 65 years and older in 2004, or 12.6 percent of the population.

"The question is, where do you put people who don't need to be in a nursing home, but who can't live independently?" said Michael Mullin, president of HAND. "Right now, we have nursing homes and we have independent living and very little in between."

HAND oversees 500 units of affordable housing in Las Vegas. The Women's Development Center rents 185 transition and affordable apartments. Administrators from both said they'd cooperate to run the proposed new facility.

Reid and Buckley said the assisted living campus they plan would be unlike anything operating in the state and be a model for other such projects.

It would be built in phases - the first including a community dining and health center and 60 conventional apartments for people living almost independently.

Buckley said it would offer a retiree who might have made $800 a month and is eligible for Medicaid a place to live and to also receive health care screenings or flu shots.

A 100-unit second phase would provide affordable housing for couples requiring more attentive care. Later, a nursing home would be built for seniors who need daily or specialized care.

Buckley said the goal is to keep spouses together, even if they need different levels of care.

Reid said he will ask the federal Bureau of Land Management to supply the land, up to 20 acres.

"The deal fails unless the federal government comes up with the land," the senator said.

Buckley said she'll ask Gov. Kenny Guinn and the Legislature, which opens its session Feb. 5, to put up $6 million for the first phase of the project.