Editorial: Showing initiative on housing

Monday, Oct. 31, 2005 | 8:32 a.m.

Credit Gerald Ernst and Leroy Anderson with foreseeing a problem that could be faced by many senior citizens, and trying to do something about it. The two residents of the Tropicana Palms mobile home park, senior citizens themselves, are reacting to what may well be the beginning of an ominous housing trend.

Many owners of mobile home parks in Clark County have either sold their properties to developers, or are considering a sale. This is because land values in Southern Nevada have increased dramatically over the past several years. Some owners have been able to make more money by selling their land than by continuing to earn rent from mobile-home owning tenants. Generally, the buyers are developers interested in building pricey, single-family homes or high-rise condos.

Although there are still more than 130 mobile home parks in the county, Ernst and Anderson fear the trend of selling them off will continue, as land values show no sign of declining. If this happens, many seniors living in the mobile home parks on low or modest fixed incomes will face a housing crisis. They won't be able to move their mobile homes -- even if there was a place for them, the expense would be prohibitive. At a median price of above $300,000, they won't be able to afford to buy a new home. And in most cases they won't be able to afford the rent on a home or even an apartment.

Ernst and Anderson are working now to save seniors living in mobile home parks from this coming dilemma. Their idea, in the formative stages now, is to work with local governments, the state and federal agencies in acquiring public land at a below-market price and developing it as a large mobile home park for seniors.

Such an arrangement is allowed under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, which was passed by Congress in 1998. The law's provision allowing federal land to be sold at a bargain price if used for affordable housing is largely untested, but Ernst and Anderson are hoping their proposal will be seen as meeting all of its criteria.

They have already formed a nonprofit organization called Village Seniors, which would operate the proposed "Senior Village." The nonprofit would also be the umbrella under which they would advance their proposal and apply for grants and other funding. Ernst says both the federal Bureau of Land Management, which would sell the land, and the Housing and Urban Development Department, which would loan money to get the project under way, have shown interest in the proposal. Also, Ernst and Anderson have scheduled a meeting for today with Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid.

We like the initiative shown by these two senior citizens. Local governments are moving at a snail's pace in addressing affordable housing, which is a priority need throughout Southern Nevada. About 200,000 people in Clark County are above age 65 and another 150,000 or more are 55 or older. Many are on fixed incomes and can barely afford the very substantial increases in utility costs, let alone the positively exploding increases in housing. We see the same picture as Ernst and Anderson -- a housing crisis for seniors in the coming years if projects on the order of their proposal are not undertaken, and quickly.