Families struggle with Vegas housing costs

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

The cost of housing appears to be taking its toll on low-income Las Vegas families, almost three-quarters of whom must shell out more than a third of their monthly income to pay the rent, according to a national study released today.

The rate in Las Vegas has rapidly outpaced the national average. Sixty-one percent of poor families living in cities have to devote more than 30 percent of their income to housing, according to the annual Kids Count study commissioned by the nonprofit Annie E. Casey Foundation.

It's a reality that forces many low-income families into Martha Floyd's office. As acting resident coordinator for the Clark County Housing Authority, Floyd teaches 204 families who live in subsidized Section 8 housing to plan their budgets.

Families living in Section 8 housing dedicate 30 percent of their income to rent and utilities while working or continuing their education, she said.

The 8 percent of families on Section 8 who take advantage of Floyd's voluntary program pay a little more each month, but the remainder is placed into an escrow account to help them buy a home, she said.

It's a goal that's keeping many of her families in subsidized housing longer.

"One of the ultimate goals is to try to transition them into home ownership but with the rising cost of purchasing a home it's becoming a cumbersome task," Floyd said. "The cost of owning their own homes is beyond what their income is."

The housing numbers in the Kids Count report stood in contrast to generally positive findings for Southern Nevada. According to the study, the Las Vegas area fared better in seven of 10 categories than the average of 49 other large metropolitan areas.

Of the three categories where Las Vegas fell behind other large cities, education was a factor in two.

Another Kids Count survey released in August showed a 25 percent increase in high school dropouts during the 2001-02 school year, bringing Nevada's dropout rate to 6.3 percent, the third-highest in the country.

Among the good news was a finding that Las Vegas children are slightly less likely to live in poverty. According to the study, 16 percent of the city's children are poor, compared to 17 percent nationally.

But those numbers may be too good to be true, Floyd thinks.

"If you take a look at the average I think it's because Las Vegas lacks a true middle class," she said. "From my observation, you have the families that have six-figure incomes and only have one or two children as opposed to the families who have nothing. I would attribute it to that."

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget draws the poverty line at $18,979 for a family of four. Studies have consistently shown that poverty rates are higher in dense urban and sparsely populated rural areas.

But paying the rent is rarely the foremost concern for families in subsidized housing, Floyd said. Currently, few programs exist to help pay for expenses such as child care, which can cost up to $500 a month for one child, Floyd said.

"It can be as bad as rent and that's just for one child," she said.

Rural Nevada children also fared better than their counterparts in other states. Twelve percent of young rural Nevadans -- less than a third of the state's children -- were found to be living in poverty compared with 20 percent nationwide, the fifth best in the nation according to the study.

The study was compiled with a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation using statistics from the U.S. Census and the Kids Count Data Book, released in August. Researchers from the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV then broke down the national ratings for Nevada.

The categories also included the percentage of children living in single-parent households, the number of teens who are high school dropouts and the number who live in homes where neither parent is employed full time.

Nationally, large cities' rates were higher than the national average in each individual category.