Town struggles with affordable housing

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.

Terri Gates wanted to buy a home and raise her two children in the safe and familiar Boulder City she grew up in. But the closest place she could afford was a three-bedroom house on the other side of Railroad Pass in Henderson.

After two years of daily drives to Boulder City, where her children continued to attend school, Gates decided home ownership wasn't worth it. She sold her Henderson residence and moved into a $1,150-a-month three-bedroom rental house in Boulder City.

"We grew up here and we want to raise our family here, but we can't afford it," said the 34-year-old Gates, who is saving for a downpayment.

The dilemma of young families such as Gates' concerns Boulder City leaders, who don't want the rising prices of homes -- driven by the town's slow-growth policies -- to turn Boulder City into an enclave for seniors and the rich. The City Council is forming a committee to find ways to put home ownership within reach of young families.

"For anybody who is already here, (the high home prices) are good," Councilwoman Andrea Anderson said. "But for our children, it makes it really tough."

City leaders want affordable housing, but not low-income subsidized housing. Currently, five families in Boulder City receive rental assistance through the federal Section 8 program. Quail Ridge Manor also provides subsidized senior apartments.

"It's not a low-income deal," said Councilman Doug Scheppmann, the primary force behind the committee and its likely chairman. "It's just affordable housing for those families that want to live here."

Scheppmann and others who say there is a problem point to census data that show that already Boulder City's population is aging and its home prices are skyrocketing.

Two decades ago only 17 percent of the city's residents were 65 or older; 28 percent were children or teenagers. By the 2000 census the numbers had reversed: Seniors made up 24 percent of the population, and children and teens 23 percent.

Meanwhile home prices in Boulder City have climbed. Twelve years ago the median home price was $120,800, compared with a median of $172,500 in 2000, according to the census.

Something must be done to keep Boulder City a well-rounded community, Scheppmann said.

"Otherwise we'll be a place for only the elite and well-to-do older population base," said the 53-year-old councilman, who owns an insurance agency in Boulder City.

"Maybe that's what the citizens want," he said. "But I personally have a problem with not giving families the opportunity to be here ... Otherwise we'll become a retirement community."

Slow-growth laws are only partly to blame for the affordable housing shortage. City laws limit the number of new homes allowed to 120 per year, but construction does not come near that, city officials say. Last year only 46 permits for single-family homes were issued, Scheppmann said. Since 1998 the number of permits has not exceeded 51 in any year, he said.

Not even mobile homes are providing an affordable alternative.

Councilman Mike Pacini, who recently moved from a mobile home to a single-family home in Boulder City, said manufactured housing can be too expensive for many young families because a 10 percent down payment is usually required.

According to Beth Aldworth Miller, a co-owner of Plaza Realty, the least expensive manufactured home for sale in Boulder City on Tuesday was a three-bedroom home for $119,900, including the space it sits on. Someone buying that home would need about $12,000 for the down payment, she said.

The real problem, and its solution, may lie in the hands of the city, which owns 195 square miles of the town's roughly 200 incorporated square miles.

"Boulder City owns all the land so the city controls the housing market," Scheppmann said.

The only realistic way the city can help the situation is to sell some of its property, said Miller, the real estate agent, who has lived in Boulder City for 23 years.

"I don't see any other option," she said.

Scheppmann and Mayor Robert Ferraro said maybe the city should sell a small piece of its property and restrict that land to the development of "affordable" housing, which Scheppmann said would be homes costing $150,000 or less.

"It has to be looked at because there's a definite need," Ferraro said. "There's very little available for young families in the low $100,000 price range."

But such a step by the city would require direct approval from city voters, thanks to a measure that says voters must approve any sale of an acre or more of city-owned land.

The city has not asked voters for approval to sell property since a 1997 referendum set that limit.

It could be hard to persuade voters to allow such a sale. Not even the entire City Council is convinced there is a housing problem.

Councilman Bryan Nix said maybe the city is seeing a natural population cycle, in which the average resident gets older and older, moves on and is replaced by a younger group.

But Nix said the committee, which could be formed at the council meeting next week, should take advantage of this opportunity to look at how the city's slow-growth policies affect housing prices.

"It's time for that big conversation to take place," Nix said.

Pacini, who said some of his childhood friends have moved away because they couldn't afford a home in Boulder City, said also he's not sure Boulder City has a housing problem at this time. The census trends, however, show him it is something to watch for, he said.

"We are a family community and we have to have balance," Pacini said. "I don't want to end up a retirement community."

Pacini said he wants the committee to look for ways to help families with home financing.

Even Scheppmann says the housing committee should look at a variety of possibilities, such as providing incentives to those who buy and renovate an older home and rezoning some property around the city.

The committee will have up to a year to research the subject, he said.

Boulder Dam Credit Union Manager Bill Ferrence, who says he may be on the committee, said first it has to figure out whether there is a problem, and if so what is it.

Ferrence said he's not convinced Boulder City's housing market is out of reach for young families.

"Anyone of reasonable means who wants to live in Boulder City will find a way to live in Boulder City," Ferrence said. "It may be in smaller houses with less amenities or they can live in an apartment.

"It's not impossible for the young to live in Boulder. It's impossible to live in the same kind of home they could buy in Green Valley. Young people are making the decision on their own to move out."

Or in the case of Gates and her family, the decision to stay.

"Unfortunately that's the way it is. The housing prices are ridiculous," she said. "But we were willing to do it to live up here."