2,000 make housing waiting list

By Timothy Pratt

Friday, Oct. 18, 2002 | 9:31 a.m.

Many endured persistent busy signals, but 2,000 low-income Las Vegas residents got through on the phone to the Las Vegas Housing Authority last week to get on a waiting list for government-subsidized housing.

It was the only chance this year to get on the city's list for Section 8 housing, one of the federal government's most coveted subsidized housing programs. The week-long window of opportunity comes only once a year.

Those 2,000 were lucky, but many more could use the help, said Deloris Sawyer, director of housing for the Las Vegas Housing Authority. There are about 10,000 needy families in Southern Nevada who could benefit from the program, she said.

"We'll have calls coming in the next few weeks, with people who don't know the deadline is passed," she said.

The total household income to qualify is $19,800 for a single person and $28,250 for a family of four.

The program is valued because families can live wherever they want, as long as the landlord accepts the vouchers.

Those who got spots on the Las Vegas waiting list include 715 people with jobs, 278 on welfare and 364 who receive Social Security benefits, Sawyer said. It is divided almost evenly among the major racial and ethnic groups, with 700 whites, 670 blacks and 600 Hispanics.

Those who made the waiting list will be informed by mail.

Piedad Summers, who moved to Las Vegas last week from Long Beach, Calif., was one of the unlucky ones.

The single mother of four, who gets by on a total of $1,750 a month in government assistance, never got through on the line equipped to deal with Spanish speakers such as her.

"I must have called 50 times from Wednesday to Friday and it was always busy," she said. "This program would have been perfect."

Those who got spots won't be moving right away, though. The wait to get into housing may be up to 18 months, though most people who qualify should be able to do so in a year or less, Sawyer said.

About half of the 2,000 people will not make it to the final step -- obtaining vouchers to help pay their rents -- because they didn't qualify, moved or no longer need the housing. Only 600 vouchers are supplied by the federal government. Some additional housing is made available when current participants leave the program.

Section 8 vouchers, which are funded by the federal Housing and Urban Development Department, are also available through the Clark County Housing Authority and North Las Vegas Housing Authority.

North Las Vegas did its list by lottery last month, after opening its doors to those who wanted to leave their names in a barrel in late August. Its list was only 200 names long, but there may be another lottery in six months, said Ingrid Cabrera, deputy executive director for the North Las Vegas Housing Authority.

Clark County's housing authority, which also covers Henderson, Boulder City, Mesquite and Laughlin, will compile a list by telephone of up to 2,000 people sometime in January, Gus Ramos, deputy executive director, said.

Cabrera said that there is concern among her colleagues about future funding for Section 8, since budget cuts may be in store.

"Really, I wish we could get more vouchers, but with all the emphasis on homeland security and the rest of that, it's usually housing and other social programs that get cut."