LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – More seniors than ever need help to stay housed in the Las Vegas Valley, and a non-profit that does critical home repairs is experiencing the highest waitlist ever from households in need.
Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada aids low-income households with critical home repairs like air-conditioning, heat and roofing. Now up to 300 people families across the Las Vegas Valley are on the waitlist at any given time. Most of the clients are seniors.
“It’s always been a choice between medicine, food and a critical repair. That’s exasperated even more now. Food prices have gone up, gas has gone up, medicine keeps going up. They’re really having to make hard choices and they just can’t make the repair,” said Bob Cleveland of RTSNV.
Many seniors have few to no options when it comes to affordable housing. If they sell their home, they face the hurdles of a long waitlist. FOX5 has told you how there are 44,000 families in the cue for affordable housing or Section 8 in Southern Nevada. According to the Nevada Housing Coalition, the state still lacks 78,000 units for extremely low-income households.
“The seniors that are on the waitlist have been there for a while, and these people would have to live in a home with no air conditioning, or no roof, or no hot water for that period of time. They’re able to stay in their home and someone else can have that space [in affordable housing] as it comes up,” Cleveland said.
Inflation has also impacted his non-profit with the skyrocketing costs of supplies. Fortunately, Cleveland says the nonprofit has gotten more funding from Nevada, Clark County, Nye County and cities across Southern Nevada.
Contractors also cut costs to help. Tuesday, Clark County approved $5 million over five years to aid the affordable housing crisis. Cleveland said about half of the people on the waitlist live in unincorporated Clark County.
For more information on how to donate and volunteer, visit RTSNV.
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