Housing project planned

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, March 1, 2005 | 9:33 a.m.

The site of the former MASH Village homeless shelter could be reborn as home to affordable housing this week under plans that include the city handing over the property to nonprofit groups.

The Las Vegas City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on proposals to sell three pieces of the land near the intersection of Main Street and Owens Avenue for $10 each.

The Salvation Army and HELP Las Vegas Housing Corp. II, which both have transitional housing beds nearby, plan to build affordable housing on the land. Shade Tree, which provides shelter to homeless and abused women and children, would use additional property to expand its parking lot and add a playground and patio area.

Maj. William S. Raihl, the Salvation Army director in Las Vegas, said the project would address a shortage of affordable housing, by adding as many as 100 apartments for low-income families on 3.2 acres they hope to acquire from the city.

"A family of four may pay as little as $420 a month for a three-bedroom apartment," Raihl said.

However, the project could take four years to complete because the Salvation Army still needs to acquire state low-income housing tax credits for the $7.5 million project, Raihl said.

"We have transitional housing, 70 units that are full all the time," Raihl said. "The problem is that once they are finished there they have nowhere to go and some find themselves homeless again."

People are allowed to stay in the Salvation Army's transitional housing, considered a step above homelessness, for two years.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said the item on Wednesday's council agenda is part of the city's 10-year plan to attack homelessness.

People would "move out of the transitional housing and into this," he said about the Salvation Army project.

The HELP Las Vegas Housing project would also provide affordable housing to low-income households, with a focus on veterans, and could be open for new residents in the summer of 2006, corporation President Craig Galati said.

The $5 million first phase of the project calls for building 75 apartments in two-story buildings. Eventually, the 4.8 acres now owned by the city would hold 200 apartments, Galati said.

The one-bedroom and studio apartments would probably cost $250 to $300 a month to rent.

"We're pretty excited about this. It will clean up a property that has been underutilized, and there is a high need for affordable housing for veterans," Galati said.

Galati's group, a subsidiary of HELP USA, also runs a 75-apartment transitional housing facility called the Bonanza View Apartments.

Funding for the Main Street project is expected to come from a variety of public sources including the state's low-income housing tax credits, which Galati said the group has already been awarded.

Shade Tree's project would cost about $800,000, which has already been set aside by the city and Clark County governments, Shade Tree Executive Director Brenda Dizon said.

"We are terribly excited, and we couldn't be more grateful," Dizon said.

"The kids need a safe place to play and get the energy out," she said about plans for a large playground behind the shelter.

The additional land would be used for an outdoor patio, and to expand the parking lot from 19 spaces to 62 spaces for the 414-bed facility.

The three properties were once part of the MASH Village homeless shelter, which closed about three years ago.