Las Vegas OKs using funds for Katrina victims

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005 | 11:13 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday approved taking up to $1 million from future local affordable housing projects and making that money available to help pay for temporary housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina who have moved to Las Vegas.

The $1 million comes from a federal HOME grant awarded to the city. City Neighborhood Services Director Orlando Sanchez said a downtown affordable housing project was expected to use that money, but the project is still six to 18 months away from needing the money.

Future federal allocations to the city will take care of that project, he said.

Because that downtown project is not ready to move forward yet, Sanchez said, the council's decision to spend up to $1 million on hurricane victims will not harm any existing projects. But he said the decision could affect future projects because that $1 million will have been used instead of being available in the future.

The city will try to get the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the city for what it spends, Sanchez said.

Mayor Oscar Goodman said members of Nevada's congressional delegation said they too will work to make sure the city is reimbursed for monies spent.

Councilman Lawrence Weekly said the assistance "comes from our heart," and Councilman Gary Reese said the housing assistance was "the best thing we can do at this time."

Councilman Larry Brown said if the city didn't act to offer the assistance, "then some hurricane victims might end up on the street."

The council voted 7-0 to make the money available to help hurricane victims with housing costs. The Las Vegas Housing Authority will be in charge of dispersing the money, which will help pay rents and is expected to be enough to help up to 200 families for six months.

Sanchez said the assistance might be needed because the local Red Cross chapter may not be able to continue providing housing assistance soon, and it was unclear when FEMA would become involved in the matter.

Mayor Oscar Goodman said the council was making this commitment out of a moral responsibility to "do the right thing."

He also challenged the Clark County and Henderson governments. He said they "better step up" and help hurricane victims.

However, the mayor said the matter would have been different if using that $1 million for the hurricane victims would have harmed an existing specific project, instead of an unknown future project.

Before voting on the matter, council members were assured by Sanchez and Housing Authority officials that the hurricane-victim assistance would not affect Las Vegans currently waiting for public housing assistance. The Housing Authority has a two-year waiting list with more than 2,000 households waiting for assistance.

The federal funds typically used by the Housing Authority to provide rental assistance is from a different source than the city's $1 million, which comes from a fund that typically is used to help pay for construction of new affordable housing, and sometimes housing assistance.

The $1 million from the city will come from the city's HOME funds account, which includes about $2.9 million received for the current fiscal year, plus about $2.5 million in unspent money from past years, Sanchez said. He said much of that money is already slated for specific projects, but he was not sure exactly how much.

The mayor and Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian also said they were concerned about the Las Vegas Housing Authority handling the assistance program.

"If I'm going to be held accountable, I want to be in control," Goodman said.

Sanchez said the Housing Authority already has the staff and expertise to handle the program, whereas he does not have enough staff to take on this project.

Also, Sanchez said the Housing Authority will disperse the money and then the city will reimburse the Housing Authority.