LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Shortages occupied the attention of Henderson City Council members Tuesday night, they looked at staffing gaps in the city’s police department, and the lack of affordable housing for its residents.
On the topic of law enforcement, the council revisited rehiring some retired officers and agreed to extend the re-hiring strategy through February of 2026.
There are currently eight police officers and two corrections officers going through the application process. However, the head of the Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers told the council the plan is only a temporary fix. Andrew Regenbaum said, in the long-term, the city needs to address salaries.
“Continuing to kick the can down the road until we have to sit and really talk about a new contract, it’s only going to put you further behind. And now we’re going to be in a spot where it’s going to be harder and harder for us to make that contract work,” he said.
Regenbaum blamed low wages for the staffing shortfall. He said some officers are leaving Henderson to work for Metro and the North Las Vegas Police Department, while others are leaving the state entirely.
Also up for discussion, the issue of affordable housing and homelessness in Henderson. A consultant pointed out a dire shortage of supportive housing for non-veterans and spotlighted a profound lack of affordable rental homes for extremely low-income households.
Consultant Ashley Barker-Tolman told the council, Nevada is currently ranked among the worst in the nation for affordable housing for the impoverished. And she says the Las Vegas Valley has the fewest affordable rentals of any major metropolitan area. Barker-Tolman urged Henderson to take a multi-pronged approach.
“That is going to be ineffective without being tied to housing resources and without hitting a number of different levers in order to make those housing resources both available and to track their progress over time,” she said.
Henderson mayor Michelle Romero responded to Barker-Tolman’s call to action by pledging to support whatever measures she recommends.
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