I now call the October 2nd, 2025 Senior Citizens Advisory Board Meeting to Order.

Has this meeting been properly noticed and posted in compliance with the Nevada Open Meeting Law?

Yes, it has.

Would the Deputy City Clerk call the role, please?

Chair O'Rearch Cameron.

Present.

Vice Chair Graham.

Present.

Member Galati.

Present.

Member Mosdean.

Member Drum.

Present.

Member Lee.

Excused.

Member Tilzer.

President.

Member Young.

Excuse.

Thank you, Chair Yavakorum.

Thank you, Deputy City Clerk.

Item number three, public comment.

Comment during this portion of the agenda must be limited to matters on the agenda for action.

If you wish to be heard, come forward and give your name for the record.

The amount of discussion as well as the amount of time any single speakers allowed may be limited.

Do we have any public comment?

Seeing and hearing none.

Item number four for possible action to approve the final minutes by reference of the regular meeting of September 4th, 2025.

Do we have any amendments or a motion?

I move to approve the minutes for September 4th meeting as a as presented.

Thank you.

So we do have a motion for approval of the minutes for September 4th, 2025.

All in favor.

Item number five, presentation by Maurice Page, Executive Director, Nevada Housing Coalition regarding housing updates and services for seniors.

All ward.

Can you please state your name for the record?

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Maurice Page, MAU, R I C E, Last Name Page, P A G E, and I'm the Executive Director for the Nevada Housing Coalition.

First and foremost, I'd like to say thank you very much for allowing me to present today.

Today I'll be giving a overview of this uh past 2025 legislative session toward get more towards the housing and what was accomplished and what things we can work towards uh moving forward through our great state.

So a little bit of background information on the Nevada Housing Coalition.

We are a 501c3 statewide member-based nonprofit.

Um our mission is to promote the development and preservation of affordable housing for all Nevadans uh through collabor collaboration, education, and advocacy.

We've been in existence um seven years, um, and we uh we have provided um a lot of advocacy and grassroots um uh work um around housing throughout the state of Nevada.

Um we also work with um multiple a multitude of organizations and individuals throughout the state to uh further push the agenda around affordable housing and attainable housing.

So let's take let's before we jump into the legislation.

I want to kind of give you a breakdown of where we're at as a state.

Um in 2022, uh working with the Nevada Grant Lab, we came across um and did a study, and we were able to see that Nevada ranked in the bottom 20 percent in five of the 10 largest funding categories.

So if you look at the screen, you'll have agriculture, education, you have health, non-Medicaid, income, social services, um, and you could do a toss-up between uh either energy environment, natural resources, and transportation.

Um looking at those, and of course, we have moved the needle a little bit in some of these areas, and we will be updating our numbers and redoing a study over the next couple of years.

Um, but as you can see, during that time frame, we were one of the least funded states across the country.

Um, and we still are.

So, as again, as you can see, we receive approximately eight hundred dollars less per person than the national average.

And then the Nevada receives amongst the least federal grant funding, despite having some of the highest needs, particularly around housing.

So the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which is based out in uh Washington, DC, gives out where we're at as far as affordable housing annually.

This report was uh was brought to us in March of earlier this year.

And what you'll see at the top under the Nevada State data review is that 93% or 93,574, 19% of renters are extremely low income here in the state of Nevada.

The average income for a four-person, extremely low income household is 30,000.

We are short 77,928 rental homes uh throughout the state.

In Southern Nevada alone, we are at 66,000.

So out of the 77, um, we are Southern Nevada, we are at 67,000 uh as a shortage.

The annual income or household income needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home is 64,000.

And then finally, 86% of extremely low income renters households are severe cost burden.

So what that means is is that in our state, the average income is roughly about anywhere between 68 and 74,000.

Uh that's the state average.

Um minimum wage is at 1250, 12.50 cents.

So it would take somebody, an individual, just to afford a one bedroom almost, working three jobs, $32 an hour just to be able to live comfortably.

That's an issue.

Also, when you look at this, when you look at our extreme low income renters, you also have to factor in not only our minimum wage employees, but then our seniors, right, who are retiring, phasing out of the workforce.

Um, they're now maybe solely relying on social security, or maybe even if they are an SSDI, those are only making below $28,000 a year.

So for them, housing has become uh a severe issue and a severe concern, and we have seen our homeless numbers on top of that increase over the last two years.

The point in time count for Clark County has not been released yet, but if we go off or go off of 2024 numbers, we are looking at 8,000 individuals who are seen as being literally homeless, and we see a number of over 20,000 individuals and families that will experience some form of homelessness during the course of a one year period.

So within 365 days, you will see that uh a family or an individual experience some form of homelessness, which is crushing for where we are at.

Now, even with all that being said, right?

I don't want to be doom and gloom with where we are and give you all these bad numbers.

The reality of it is um for the last 75 plus years, we have been one of the fastest growing cities across the country.

Um, in no way possible shape or form could we have predicted where we could have gone, you know, 20 years from now.

I've been a resident of Southern Nevada for almost 25 years.

When I came here, the population was roughly in Southern Nevada alone, maybe 500,000.

As a state, roughly about 800,000.

Today we sit at 3.3 million, with Southern Nevada being at 2.7, 2.8.

And then within the next 15 to 20 years, we are looking at another million folks moving into Southern Nevada.

Um, and then we will literally be literally be the size of Philadelphia.

Um, their city is city of Philadelphia, which is a population of 3.3 million people.

So when you look at that and you take that all into account, no matter what we can do at a state, federal or now at a state or local level, we would not be able to catch up with the growth, right?

And so, and then on top of that, having a pandemic, having a housing recession, those are everything that have just qualified and has acervated the situation that we are in right now.

So when we talk about the Nevada's affordable housing supply, um, this was a number that again through Assembly Bill 213, which was approved back in 2023, uh, which saw that we were we're we wanted to take into an account and taking an inventory of where we were at.

So in 2023, our combined uh affordable housing inventory for the state was roughly at about 29,000.

Okay, since the ARPA funds of 2021, which was approved, which was 500 million, um, and that money was all dedicated towards the development and preservation of affordable housing, we have been able to increase that to now we have 34,952, to which Clark County as a whole has 25,000 or almost 26,000 of those units.

Washoe County and Northern Nevada, they have roughly about 9,000.

So we're we're trending, right?

But it's almost like saying I just showed you the numbers and showing that we're almost 78,000 units short, and we've only added roughly about 6,000 units.

So it was the money, although we was able to show if you give us the money, we're able to get it out the door, we're able to get development in.

But again, we're so far away of where we need to go as a goal that even developing 6,000 new homes is still not enough to be able to keep up with our population.

Whereas we're still growing on a monthly basis, bringing in roughly um 1,000 to 1,200 new residents to Nevada and yearly growing at about a 6% rate on a year-to-year basis.

And on and so also looking at, I just want to make sure that we're all understanding this graph.

Our when we look at the 30% and below, that is where we're most severe at, right?

So again, those are your individuals who are working minimum wage jobs.

Um you're looking at seniors who are retirees who are phasing out, um, and then you're also looking at maybe recent college grads who are also not fully employed because they're going to school, and so they have minimal income or minimal resources available.

What we do have enough supply of, and and we again, this number still needs to grow, but when you look at that 3150 to 60% AMI, which is really targeted as your senior housing, um, we do and we are putting more inventory into that into that area.

However, that number is always going to be short as well, even though it's the highest on our graph.

So housing affordability, I've touched on this a little bit over the last couple of slides, mentioning it, but now let's really dig into the weeds of this.

So again, uh working with Paycheck to Paycheck National Housing Conference organization, um, they have taken a uh review and and have looked at the cost of housing here in the here in uh southern Nevada, and what you'll see is needed to afford a studio, you need to make 48,000 to be able to afford a two-bedroom, $65,720.

When you look at the occupations, if you're not a general or operations manager making 84,000, you're not gonna be living very comfortable.

So again, when you look at your retail salespersons, 31,000, hotel, motel, resort desk clerks, 37,000.

Um, and then your school workers are roughly making about 53,000.

Okay.

Now again, those are numbers that if you have maybe five years of experience.

Um, but just imagine bringing in new teachers, and that's why we are short on teachers, bringing in new teachers, they're starting at below 40,000, and it takes them a while before they're able to make a decent salary.

And so, and and again, these numbers are also based on a single household income.

So, this is not even factoring in two incomes, right?

And so when you factor that in, you have to have a partner, you have to have roommates just to be able to not be cost burdened.

And in the state, we are literally uh 54% of our residents are cost burdened when it comes to um uh maintaining their household costs.

Home ownership available affordability.

When you look at that, the annual income needed for a 10% down payment is 143,000.

To put down 3%, you need to make 153,000, roughly.

Tell me, in this room, how many folks in here do you know that makes that type of money on average, right?

I know that we have some outliners, right?

And and so, but with that being said, when you look at you know your community, how many folks are bringing in that type of money?

It takes two, maybe even three incomes just to be able to do it.

I remember talking to someone just in the city uh of Las Vegas, and they stated that half of their employees will qualify for state assistance just to just to make ends meet.

On top of that, what they're showing another person told me that what they're seeing just in their general community is that uh you're having three to four generations still working and living in the same home just to make ends meet, right?

And so we have to factor in.

If you're only making $50,000 a year, you know, it only takes for you to lapse on your insurance, car insurance, or to have a medical condition, um, or to have to uh do some type of repairs in your home if you don't have all the necessary insurances, which sometimes we have to forego because of where our income is at, um, just to be able to put groceries on our table.

Um, and so having the need to be able to not only bring down the housing costs, but to get more folks um better pay and better uh services is why the coalition was created.

So that's kind of giving you a backdrop of where we're at as a state.

Let's now jump into the housing bills and the outcomes from this past legislative session.

So, first off, you know, 1200 bills were presented, bill drafts were presented during this session, one of the most highest in recent years.

Out of that, uh 63 housing bills represented it represented 5% of all bills introduced.

Now, let's put that into context before I go into the next one.

Ten years ago in 2015, during that session, you know how many housing bills there was?

Three.

Nine.

So within seven years, right?

We have been able to say, okay, get it get housing on people's agenda.

We've been able to, you know, force folks to be able to create housing bills that will help throughout the state.

And now we're starting to see that hey, this is a priority, housing is a priority.

It is on the governor's radar, it is on our local politicians' radar, and they're looking to do something for it.

Unfortunately, everybody's now become a housing expert and knows what we should be doing.

And I'm not saying that the coalition is should be at the high on the list, but again, this is what we've been doing since our inception.

Um with that being said, out of the 63 bills, 26 were passed, which is a 40% success rate, which was which is really high and awesome for our state.

518 bills were signed into law, signed into law overall, right, as is as a state.

And then 87 bills were vetoed, most bills rejected in a single session.

Again, we have to be, we have to have, we can't have tunnel vision when we look at that 87.

1,200 bills, um, 87.

That puts us actually, if you average that out around the country, we're actually in the middle of the pack.

Um, so, and again, when you have 1200 bills, you can't sign everything right into law.

And so I'm not saying these the bills that were vetoed were right, wrong, or there was, you know, there was a wrong decision with them.

I'm just saying let's we gotta look at it from a macro level and say when you when you're introducing so many bills, and with our state and federal situation as far as where our budget is at in an uproar, a lot of things factor into those decisions, right?

Okay.

So when we look down and we break down what the housing bills and the outcomes, we look at affordable housing development and financing, nine bills were passed, tenant rights, landlord tenant law, we had two that passed, supportive housing, homelessness, we have five bills that passed, rental assistance, which is really eviction diversion, uh, and we'll get into that.

One that passed, manufactured mobile home parks, tenant anti-discrimination, fair housing was three, local government, zoning land use, three, property tax and abatements, one, and then we also have five bills that ultimately were vetoed.

Those were more um on the tenant side.

Um again, there's still that struggle of do we want rent stabilization, um, summary eviction?

Um, those are a lot of bills that are still, you know, folks are not able or not ready to embrace those concepts yet.

And I don't think as a state, honestly, this is Maurice's opinion, not the coalition.

I don't think we're ready for rent stabilization.

Um, it helps in other states, but other states also have multiple streams of revenue that they're building into housing.

Um, but I'll take questions on that if there is any after the presentation.

So, what were the biggest wins throughout this conference?

Uh, number one, Assembly Bill 366, then Nevada Supportive Housing Development Fund.

Now, initially this bill was introduced in 2023 as Assembly Bill 310, the Nevada Support of Housing Development.

And what this does is now we had a one-time fund during that time frame of 32.2 million dollars that went to support services throughout the state for seniors and low-income residents who are struggling to sustain housing.

So that was a one-time fund in 2023.

What we did was we was able to go back and work with uh assemblymember Danielle Monroe Moreno, and we were now able to get a permanent funding source out of our general funds to be allocated to support services for residents throughout the state moving forward.

So now this year we we allocated 21 million dollars.

Um it will be based on what the budget is going forward, but that is exciting news because now we have additional dollars that will go towards support services to help folks maintain.

So if you need um case management services, mental health, behavioral health, um, workforce development, um, if seniors are in need of food or anything along those lines, other support mechanisms, um, they this money will now be a part of that.

How does that money get you know to us?

Um, it will go through the government through our uh local jurisdictions, Clark County and in the North, uh, City of Reno and possibly Washo uh County Commission.

Um, and then our organizations um will apply for those monies through our RFP, and once if they are awarded, then those monies will go out.

Now, 20 million doesn't is not a lot, um, but it is a great start.

Um, and again, if we can show the results that we're able to sustain and keep people housed, we'll definitely go back and advocate for more monies.

Uh Assembly Bill 62.

This was based around our uh low income uh tax credits, state tax credits.

Um now the issue is this was a uh a win and a loss because on one hand, the technical language which will allow us to move the process of getting homes developed faster was approved.

But the extension and the expansion of the Litex tax credits um where we wanted a hundred million dollars over the next 10 years was vetoed and was was not moved forward.

So, what does that mean?

That means that we only have enough dollars in our state budget or in our tax credits um to get us through 2027.

After that, um development around affordable housing will come to a crawl unless during that session um we bring this bill back up and we do get it approved and move forward.

Um so that is a little scary.

Um I do feel as though we were up against the film tax, we was up against others, and a lot of our legislators in talking and speaking with them, um, you know, if they were not for tax credits, uh or if they if they were not for the film, they weren't going to vote for anything else.

So it was like, you know, we're gonna either do one or the other, okay?

Either all of it's gonna get passed or none.

And so unfortunately this time around, none of those got passed.

Um, but again, I do have optimism that we will bring this back in 27.

We will get the deals done and be able to expand this so that this way we can continue to develop new housing, affordable housing going forward.

Um, assembly bill 475, the eviction diversion that was on the previous page.

Now we had two bills.

This was actually in the governor's bill as well.

We had two bills with this.

One was rental assistance, the other one was eviction diversion.

What they did was they combined this and made this as one eviction diversion.

Um now, there's pros and cons to this as well.

Although we are getting again 21 million dollars allocated towards eviction diversion, this money can only be allocated to individuals and families who aren't who have already been who has already received their eviction notice.

Um so we cannot help them beforehand.

And then whereas rental assistance, right?

If you are homeless or you are struggling and you need assistance or uh monies to uh pay your security deposit, that money is not available at this time, right?

So with this bill, again, we're hoping that we'll be able to keep folks in their homes going forward if they are if they enter the eviction diversion or eviction process.

However, um it doesn't meet the full needs of hoping hoping helping individuals and families get off the streets or out of shelters or out of the domestic violence shelters and getting them into homes.

But again, we're moving and again our it all falls back on our budget as a state, right?

Our budget was just in shambles.

There was sort of a lot of hard decisions had to be made.

And if we're going to use this money, we might as well keep folks that are already housed.

We might as well keep them in the in the housing as it is.

And then we have Assembly Bill 540.

This was the governor's um Nevada Attainable Housing Bill.

This was 133 million dollars.

Phenomenal, right?

One of its kind, never been done before in the state.

Kudos to the governor of his vision of bringing being able to bring down the cost of housing.

As we all know, housing right now for single family residents in Clark County alone, we are at 470,000 in some areas.

Um up north, they are at 480,000.

So as a state, we are at what roughly on an average of about 460, 470, um, which is just ridiculous, right?

We we are mini California or we're moving to that area.

Um, and so the idea behind this bill is very simple.

We want to be able to uh build uh smaller starter type homes.

So you're looking at condos, town homes, duplexes, triplexes, um, bring them down to a lower rate, maybe in the low 300s um or at around 300s.

We're gonna increase the area medium income to 150%.

So now we can get more folks approved to get into housing.

The overall goal of this is to be able to uh help folks achieve homeownership and generational wealth, or get on at least get on the path of creating generational wealth for their self and their families going forward.

And so the uh and within the next two to three years, um, they are predicting that we should be able to have five to seven thousand residents of Nevada to be able to meet those goals.

Um now, again, going back 20, 25 years, I remember my first home was a ranch style, 1,100 square feet, big backyard, and I only got it for 100 and I think 20,000, right?

We just do not have that anymore.

And so when you look at even the the a condo could be, you know, at least at a minimum 330,000.

Um, and so with this, we're hoping to be able to again just lower the cost, get more folks involved in home ownership, so this way they're able to start building.

And if you're not familiar with the area of medium income, it is targeted around what a person makes.

And so with us increasing that to 150%, we're what we're looking at is if the state average um salary is 67,000, and we gonna multiply that by the 150%.

Now a person will be approved at 100,000 so that this way they're now able to move forward with uh being approved for housing because they will qualify for salary purposes.

Um bills that did not make it.

Um Senate Bill 391, uh corporate housing.

Uh Senator Neil, Dennett Dina Neil um brought this bill forward.

Um, in theory and in concept, this bill is is something that we need.

We need to stop the the price gouging and and these Wall Street investors of coming in and buying up properties and doubling the rents and um the values of these homes.

Um there was, I'm sure many of you probably read that there was an investor that came in, brought about a billion dollars worth of real estate and was able to make almost three billion dollars after they flipped it.

Um we cannot allow that to go forward anymore.

Um, particularly they are moving into neighborhoods that are distressed, they're rehabbing them, and then they're selling them at double the value.

And so that is one of the reasons why we have increased housing.

Um, and so the bill overall wanted to limit investors to 100 units.

Um, but however, the issue is number one, they can create multiple LLCs because they have multiple revenue sources.

So we cannot keep track of how many LLCs and how many homes they're buying.

Um, so that's that's going to cause an issue.

And then also we have some of our leaders who know and think of this as a necessary evil um in regards to having uh investors come in and purchase properties.

Reason being, and I understand the theory behind it, um, they're helping our economy overall, right?

They're putting more money into into the economy.

However, when you're buying up and you're putting them in distressed neighborhoods or in low low value neighborhoods, um, it is just killing everybody else and pushing other folks to other areas.

And so we need to seek a balance going forward.

We're looking, hopefully, we'll be working with uh Senator Neal in 2027 to bring this back and hopefully fine-tune the language so that this way we can find a resolution with that.

Um the federal land um housing development bill, um, of course, we have multiple land bills uh in out in the open with through our federal delegation.

Uh Senator Cortez Masto has hers, and this one, this bill is based around that.

You have uh Congressman Amade of North, and you have uh Senator Jackie Rosen, who all have different versions of how they would like to see land um operated going forward.

And so again, I think with just the confusion and in our federal delegation not being on the same page, um, it was not wise for us to move forward with that, or um our committees found that it was not wise for them to move forward.

Um the mortgage rate interest buy down pilot program, that is actually sort of again a win.

Although in theory, this was uh killed, it was also included into the governor's housing bill.

Um, and so we do have an interest rate buy down, and we have down payment assistance that will be offered to individuals as well seeking home ownership.

Um and then restoration improvement districts, this is I think a good bill.

It was a great bill.

What it was is you would take older commercial style buildings and you would just convert them to affordable housing.

Um, unfortunately, this was introduced late in session, and we just cannot get any momentum behind it.

And just to also put this in perspective, excuse me, when we first started the session in early February, there was a lot of everybody was timid, everybody was very nervous because again, we was just going through the issues with the federal government, looking at the cuts.

Um, and so a lot of folks had to go back to the drawing board, redo their bills, um, so that this way we could, you know, hopefully get some traction with them.

I could tell you by the 106th day of session, which is roughly right around May 5th, um, the governor had only five bills on his desk to review.

So that left over a month just to get these bills for him to give them reviewed and to say yay or nay on any of them.

So the governor was put in a precarious situation with respect to how he could move forward with any of these bills when you talk about health care and talk about education, housing, all of that.

And then through our conversations with with the governor, um, he definitely said housing is a top three priority behind education and health care.

However, he also stated that with the issues going on at the federal level and around Medicaid Medicare, if that is a situation where he has to put money from our budget into you know, our to help out our state, that will take away from housing.

Um, and so when you have roughly about 800,000 folks that are on Medicaid and are using these services, and for us, Medicaid is one of our biggest revenue sources from the federal government, that takes the wind out of ourselves uh when it comes, you know, it makes it very scary, um, looking at how housing will be looked at going forward.

Um, so some those are some of the bills that were uh that were killed or it was not worth vetoed down.

Um I would like to say thank you for allowing me to present today.

Um I also would like to uh invite all of you.

We're having a our sixth annual housing conference, affordable housing conference in two weeks, October 15th and 16th at the Circa Hotel and Resort and Hotel.

We're very excited about this.

We bring over uh almost close to 400 individuals from around the country and statewide to our conference, and we're talking about real solutions.

Um and so if you have the time and the availability, um you can reach out, go to our website, nv housing coalition.org for more information to get signed up.

And thank you again for allowing me to speak today.

Thank you.

Does anyone have any questions?

I must see Claudie.

Uh Ward Ward Two.

I uh you have some interesting points there.

I was just wondering that all seems to be contingent on on two factors.

And uh one is of course is the uh uh land, available land, and it seems that the federal if we don't get additional federal lands, we cannot build, and uh you're competing with land that the value keeps on going up and and it's expensive.

And the other one is of course that one most probably it's a consideration is the water issue that we have.

So it's tied one to the other one.

And I think in many ways we're limited to uh what can be achieved.

And uh I I like the proposals because you're looking within and try to do whatever we have that uh rather than going to federal lands, but somehow we we're looking at federal lands because even if we don't have those uh additional land, the price of housing will stay up.

Absolutely.

Well, the reality, let's look if we're being you know realistic, um, and and I like to be optimistic, but if we're gonna be if we want to live in the reality, the reality of it is we have to first look at infrastructure overall.

So even if we let's say our federal land spill does get approved, we're able to expand out.

Who's gonna build the roads, the stoplights, the hospitals, the the fire stations, the police stations, uh schools, things of that nature.

Um, even with that, we have certain neighborhoods already that are have been built that public transportation cannot even reach, and that's another major issue of ours for our state.

Uh so when you look at you know, just that affordable housing, we can't have it out there, you know, stretched out on on these because it's not gonna be affordable, right?

Folks are going to need to have to purchase cars and and then you have gas and things of that nature that comes into play.

We have to focus right now on in field development.

Um we have to, you know, close the gaps in those in those areas that we can so that this way we can uh help folks be able to stay closer to their doctors and um into their in their within their school districts, um, and you know, stay in neighborhoods and communities so that this way they're they're able to get accessibility to other areas around town.

Um the federal lands it's gonna be an issue for a long time.

Um I when I say a long time, we're gonna be discussing this over the next two to three years.

I don't see no resolution coming very soon.

Um, and then finally with the water, again, yes, we have to look at that.

Um, and and again, it goes back to our land spill and how we would like to move forward with that.

What I can say is, you know, with the governor's plan uh with his housing attainability, we'll be able to, you know, use we'll use that to be able to build smaller homes, which will, you know, help out in the short term.

And then long term, when we look at how we're going to bring down the cost of housing, I think it's just gonna always be uh be a fight.

And the other thing too is we have to look at other revenue sources that we can build upon it within the state.

Um right now we we do not have the revenue sources that really can invest in housing, and so we have to look at where we can uh pull money from uh to be able to continue to grow.

I was just wondering, uh that's I I don't hear much about it, is the multi-dwelling uh units, in other words, we we're talking five, six story.

Uh I I think it's less land utilized and more efficient in many ways.

I know uh they are uh there have been developments, but focusing, I I can you give us uh a little bit about that?

Uh it's in the works or uh it's is I mean we have it we still haven't dealing with a lot of zoning and density issues.

Um and so again, it goes back to you know, there are height restrictions on you know development uh as far as infill and and city of Las Vegas right now is landlocked, so we have to you know find areas that we can build on, particularly within our faith community.

Um and we'll actually be talking about that at our conference as well, and and teaching them how to be able to do that.

But that is an ongoing conversation that you know, right now, if I if I say anything, it would just be me being optimistic.

Um and so again, a lot of conversations are being had at the county and city levels to see what we can do, and it's really based around zoning and density, and once we're able to kind of figure out how we want to go in that area, we'll be able to, you know, move forward.

Yes, because uh I didn't mention before because I think it will be especially for the seniors.

Yes, it would be excellent.

Uh I do see quite a few in Vegas and impressive.

And I think we should have more of those.

I mean, and but again, yeah, and and it also just comes back again, tax credits comes back to revenue sources.

That's what it all applies to.

And then it's okay, do we where's the balance at?

We have to find balance between all of these.

Um, because you know, just as seniors are in are in need of affordable and attainable housing, so is you know, other populations as well.

And so we have to find that balance and that middle ground, and and that's why it's important for folks to I always say you have to be involved with the coalition to express your voice, you know, where your concerns are and maybe even come with solutions to the table.

I have seniors on my policy committee.

Um, and so they are you know pushing bills that will help reduce payment for seniors overall so that this way they're not seeing gigantic um increases in rent.

Um, but unfortunately, again, those are falling on deaf ears.

What can we do?

Talk to talk to your council members, um, let them know, scream in their ears, right?

Let them know what the issues are, get involved with the coalition, right?

The more voices, the more stakeholders we have, um, the better we can advocate on on you for you.

Um and again, and then even from there, talk to your assembly members in your districts, talk to your state senators um in your districts.

Those are the ones that also they're going up there for 120 days to to and they're supposed to be fighting for you.

And if but they don't know how to fight, they're only going to come up with their own ideas if you're not telling them what they really should be doing.

Chair O'Rearch Cameron, uh, on that note, when you and I were up there for older Americans Day, I was very disappointed on how few people I saw from our area up there.

And we need seniors represented up there.

So be thinking about that, board so we can figure out a solution for the next session uh in our communities, and also Gregory and Olga.

Um, because it was noted to me by quite a few legislators that it would be nice if we could get more of that representation there.

Obviously, there's local representation, you know, with it being Reno being so close and Carson.

And one of the things to kind of piggyback, you know, the senior population is growing.

And we have been in the top states for you know, being a retirement, and I personally, uh being an advocate, do not want to see that change.

I think that that has been a beautiful thing, and I think that this area is good for seniors.

We have seniors of all different types.

I was in one of the five-star communities yesterday, and we have those seniors who are aging out very well, but they too need to be served, you know, in in other areas.

Um, obviously not with housing.

So I agree with you on the balance, and I also would like to take the opportunity to say get involved.

I think if we can all get that out there, because the more I dive into the housing coalition, the more I realize it's the the best resource for all of us when we get all the housing questions.

I mean, Maurice and his team do such a fantastic job.

You I mean, you can see by the slides, many of our questions are answered there.

We saw that the seniors are 29% right behind the labor force.

It shows you just how much seniors are a priority, but also our labor force.

Absolutely.

And when he says balance, I think that all of us understanding that.

And I think uh if we can have a direct align with the housing coalition more, maybe have you come and speak again in a couple of months to any new things uh so that we can stay on top of it.

Um I also had an experience like you were talking about.

I bought my home uh when my first home when I came here 27 years ago, 279,000 for an acre, 2700 square feet.

Insane.

Yes.

Insane.

And uh I don't really like saying this publicly, but I think it needs to be noted that when I lost my home and I was doing mortgage processing at the time, so I knew of it.

We did not have the proper laws in place to help protect.

And it turns out that the company uh, you know, that I'm paying my mortgage to, they actually had an LLC.

And we're able to get my house, and then I found out they were getting a lot of them, and in front of our judges, I did all the homework myself, everything else before I hired an attorney, and the judge was so disappointed because there was nothing he could do.

So it's very important when we have a speaker like this, uh, to make sure that we're asking the questions, being involved, because it's not just surface level.

Gee, we need housing.

Right.

And thank you for bringing up the transportation aspect because that's part of the balance as well.

It is.

So I I love how thorough this was.

Um, I don't really have any questions per se.

I just wanted to reiterate some of the things that I see that we deal with all the time.

But I would like to say, what do you think our best practices?

You as Maurice, I know the you know the coalition has it, for our next bill drafts and our next session, so that we can start getting prepared now.

Yeah, so I'm I'm already in doing the research, and our policy committee has already met roughly about three times, and so we've outlined uh four areas.

Number one, development, of course, preservation is number two.

So we want new homes, we want to preserve the homes that we currently have that's considered affordable.

What we're also recognizing is that over these last over the next couple of years, we'll probably lose probably roughly two thousand units, um, just because the tax credits have expired.

Tax credits normally last about 30 years, and so we're in an area and in a time where we're even though we'll probably gain 3,000 more new units, we'll be offset by another 2,000.

So that'll be only a net game of a thousand.

Um so we want to look for funding to to be able to keep those homes as affordable affordability.

Um we're also looking at revenue, right?

And so again, I I kept saying it earlier.

We have to find revenue sources, you know.

Uh we have to look to see how we can pull back from, you know, maybe modify business tax or sales tax or um property taxes, you know, things of that nature.

And some of these may not folks may not like um because again, it goes back to uh folks move here because our property taxes are very good to, you know, me being a homeowner, I really wouldn't want to see them change.

But you know, in the industry that I that I work in, there has to be some changes and some modifications with that.

Um so we're looking for my revenue sources, okay.

This money will go towards helping helping us build housing um and and helping us, you know, preserve our our current housing.

And then lastly, housing stabilization.

Um, you know, so again, looking for more and additional resources for our community members so that this way they can maintain their housing.

Um so those are the four areas that we've identified.

We're looking at best practices from across the country, um, bills that has been, you know, created and and hopefully then maybe we can bring them here.

We're looking at similar states like you know, Florida, which is a purple state, um, Arizona, um, and other states, uh, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Portland, um, those are states that are similar to Nevada in structure.

Um, excuse me.

And so we're looking to see what we can bring here to Nevada and hopefully modify it so it fits our our needs, and then we have to look for housing champions.

So what can you do?

Um, number one, if you run across bills or have ideas, you know, again, you can reach out to us, talk to us, let us know some of some that we can consider that'll be great.

Um, number two, I would say we're looking for housing champions just for the 27 s uh session, we're probably looking at a 40% to 45% turnover.

Um, and for each party, but but particularly in the the democ the Democrat side, we're losing uh majority leader Steve Yeager.

Um we're losing housing champion assembly members Sandra Harrage.

Um we're losing assembly member Danielle Monroe Marino, who was running for mayor for North Las Vegas.

Um, and so those are just some of the few names that we're losing.

Um and again, they were big and huge advocates for around housing.

And so we have to build up and train the next generation of leaders that'll help us, you know, move the needle.

It just came one more thought came to mind.

Uh Ward II, Vito Golati uh is gentrification.

I saw it happen in New York, especially in Manhattan and the neighborhoods where houses became untouchable.

And I see I begin to see it here in many ways on what houses are being advertised in the range that are affordable.

And I have a feeling that those are being eyed to improve the neighborhood, if you want to call that, but in the process, you're going to take over the neighborhood.

Oh, and it becomes expensive.

No, absolutely.

And so those are your investors, those are your corporate investors.

They're coming in again, those are your low income or maybe even brand new neighborhoods.

And so they're coming in and they're there's they're wanting a certain income, a certain lifestyle that wants to be perceived for that neighborhood.

And so that's why they're building building these homes or rehabbing these homes in their likeness, so this way they can attract a certain demographic.

So we definitely again, we're gonna be that all falls back to your corporate uh investors coming in, your wall street investors are coming in and just buying up properties.

Uh, we have to limit what they can do, um, and we have to provide other alternatives for folks to be able to get into those housings at a at a lower rate.

Um, again, even though there has been a 7% or 10% drop in rental costs, where folks are still paying anywhere between 15 to 6 16 50 a month for a one to two bedroom, which is really unreasonable.

So we're looking at that, we're trying to examine that and see where we can where we can take it.

Um, Jennifer Drumward 3.

Is there much by way of transitional housing?

So going from homeless on the street to actually having a temporary roof over your head to get you into potential full-time housing.

Is there much because in I'm downtown, so we have a lot of homeless, and there's one particular senior, she sleeps on the street.

I I'm I'm up and out with my morning, and I see Elizabeth every day, and I it breaks my heart.

She shouldn't be out there.

Yeah, so you have campus for hope.

Um, then this is the new project.

Um, they are right now under construction, under development.

They'll be bringing 900 beds, so that'll be another avenue.

Um, I know that there's going to be some of the resources will probably be cut, but they're, you know, the city and the county do have funds.

Um, and and what they're looking to do is transition uh back to transitional housing.

Um we have employed um as a as a county or as a state um housing first um programs where we would literally take them and put them in direct housing with case management and all support services.

However, um, with the reductions at HUD from a federal level and with the federal government changing how they perceive how they would like the homelessness to be worked, they're going back to providing transitional housing before folks are able to go to permanent permanent housing.

And so um that's we're gonna look at you know, campus for hope as going to be the lake that we um lean on um to see how that program works, and and if it does, then we'll probably invest in more transitional housing.

Caroline Mosdean, Ward Six.

Thank you for such a comprehensive presentation.

It's exceptional.

Have actually answered pretty much most of our questions.

But I do uh follow up on veto when we were talking about uh federal land, and you you brought up some points that I hadn't even thought about, but I believe that there's some VLM land that is almost landlocked right nearby.

Um are you working to find out a way that we could maybe gain control of that um because of the transportation and the other things that you brought up that might be more reasonable than going way out?

Yeah, again, it it's it's a conversation that we're continually having.

Again, we when you just look at uh city of Las Vegas, who is initially just landlocked.

The only thing the only land that we do have is maybe in fill and in our faith-based communities, um the churches who have a ton of land, we can build on those and to directly answer the question with BLM, it would probably take us two and a half, three years before we could even probably um transition it back to land for us to be able to develop.

Um, and so that's part of the and and that's under uh Senator Cortez Masto's um federal land policy or guide um that she is bringing forward.

Um but again, with where our federal government is at, um, and again, it's you know, leaning more Republican, um, we're not getting any traction uh with her bill.

And so and she covers the southern Nevada area with hers, and so um, you know, whereas Congressman Amade covers northern Nevada and the rurals, um, and Senator Rosen, they're in their own little fight, so to speak, as to which lands bill would be more effective for northern Nevada, and and Senator Cortez Masto is trying to fight for us.

I see that.

And so perhaps maybe more of us can be in touch with her issue.

Absolutely.

That kind of um support for her.

The other question I have is how closely do you work with um the city in terms of zoning?

And the reason I bring that up is there's a company here, um commercial company called Boxable building building tiny homes.

And it was over there, and basically they don't sell here, they're all over the country.

And why why do we not have?

We have I think one location downtown, but why do we not have uh tiny homes uh available there?

I think we need 1,400 square feet here in most cases, and I think um uh there were they were talking between 500 and a thousand square feet.

Um yeah, you know, I I think what it it the concept of tiny homes, manufactured homes just has not caught up.

Um, and so and again, with us needing bigger homes, um more multifamily, uh, you know, I think folks in and again we're led by our business community and not so much a social uh social services community, and so they're they're dictating where things should go.

And so Boxable was looking to get um approval or get it written to legislation for them to be able to build and sell here in Nevada.

I forget where their bill ended up.

I know it did not pass.

Um so I don't know if it was killed or if it was just voted down.

Um, but I do know that, you know, and I'm very familiar with Boxable, and I love their concept.

Um I believe that it could be great for our homes.

I mean, you're talking ADUs accelerated dwelling units where you could put them, you know, in somebody's literally in their backyard, you know, 350, and it could be a great uh place for like a a college student or you know, certain folks or whatever.

But I think that's it's an ongoing conversation.

I think we have to catch up.

Um, and again, we have to look for additional resources to be able to help them build out.

Um but yes, they do, they are contracted, so they are contracted with UNLV, they are contracted with uh Catholic charities, and so they're looking to expand as much as they can.

And they're doing some things up north as well.

Right.

Uh I was also, I guess years ago, uh, was involved with um one area for for veterans and container housing it has a tremendous potential for for single use.

And I was wondering about the land that's up by the veterans hospital.

Talk about not needing to go too far for the care that you need.

Um is have that been considered or thought about anymore?

So what I believe is n North Las Vegas, they have already deemed that area where new homes will be built, single family residences.

Um, if I am correct, and please don't quote me on this.

I believe that they were um they written to their um five-year plan that they're gonna look to build 10,000 new homes and majority of them will be single family.

Um so I don't think the manufactured or tiny homes will be in those areas.

Yeah, it's kind of a shame for uh our our veterans, as I say, I think that would be an ideal place to be able to do that.

And you have to look at the economics.

I'm sorry to cut you off.

Um, but is you have to look at the economics of it.

North Las Vegas, they have been very focused in on commercial building, um, bringing in, you know, they're building a uh health district, um, and so they're looking to they get away from the stigma of North Las Vegas being where low income residents live.

And so, you know, from you know, going all the way back to Mayor John Lee to our our current mayor, Mayor uh Pamela Goens, um, I believe their plan is to is to build more single family homes, more upscale um and missing middle type homes uh to be able to offset that.

Yeah, and you can see that by the prices alone.

Absolutely.

Uh it's it's like Las Vegas was.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Sorry, really quick.

I know we're on time.

Uh Nicole Graham Ward One.

Uh, one of your beginning slides, you said Nevada was one of the least funded.

Why is that, do you think?

What does that contribute?

Again, uh, it was we didn't have the population, right?

And so, you know, if you go going back, who would have thought that we would have grew so much over the last 20 years, you know, and and so um, you know, Nevada was always focused in on your gaming um and mining.

There was no reason to be able to, you know, invest in education um or into housing at that point.

And so even when you look at you know, vouchers, right?

We only get 12,500 vouchers, Section 8 vouchers a year.

Whereas a city of sh like Chicago, they get 43,000, don't even get using them all, and we cannot take any of them because again, that would just destroy um, you know, their economy as well.

And so from a Western perspective, when you look at Idaho, Nevada, Utah, um, we are all underfunded when it comes to Section 8 vouchers.

Um and the investment which was, you know, created back in 1978 as to how many vouchers a a state should get that has not been looked at since then.

Um and so the I would say the way they were the way they try to say, hey, instead of we giving you twelve or an extra ten thousand vouchers, they say here's five hundred million dollars, build some more housing, right?

And so, you know, that's where the dilemma comes in.

We were so fast in where our growth is and where we came from.

And uh, even if you look at our housing recession of 08,009, once we came out of that, we started to see the population started to grow.

We could not keep up with it, and we did not even address it until late 2000, until 19, um, right before the pandemic hit.

Um so again, we're we were s we're just stuck between a rock and a hard place in regards to increasing funding throughout the state.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for spending this much time with us.

I know you have a lot on your plate, especially with the conference coming up.

And I know that the top priority here that we always talk about and every call it seems that we get is housing.

And that along with transportation and health care.

So we greatly appreciate you taking the time.

Absolutely and uh if you could state for the record your contact information for anyone who may see this on our YouTube channel later, and also for the board, I would greatly appreciate it.

Yes, so Nevada Housing Coalition, our website is NV Housing Coalition, C-O-A-L-I-T-I-O-N dot org.

Um you can go there.

Um all of our information, contact information is on the website.

Um I will give out my work cell, uh, which is 725 3102689.

And let me be very clear, we are not a direct services agency.

We do not provide rental assistance, we do not provide housing.

What we do is we advocate on people's behalf.

Um, we educate and we uh bring folks to the table to talk about housing.

Um so I do get a lot of calls about, oh, can you help me out?

I was like, I'm so sorry.

Um we do have resources on our website though that you can go to um if you are in need of uh any rental assistance or any help uh with housing.

Once again, thank you very much for your time.

We greatly appreciate you and all that you are doing.

Thank you so much.

Have an enjoyable rest of your day.

All right.

Item number six report by Gregory Gray, Management Analyst One regarding senior issues received by the Department of Neighborhood Services awards.

Gregor Gray for the record.

Um for the sake of time, I will forego my report.

Thank you.

Item number seven, report by board members regarding senior issues and events within their council wards and at large awards.

I would also like to ask if we can keep it to just maybe one quick minute of your top priority that you might need to say, because this was a fabulous speaker we've all been wanting, and I wanted to grant them the time.

So hopefully everyone can give us that grace and give me that grace.

And that being said, we have first word one.

Yes, okay, word one, Nicole.

Hi, Nick uh Nicole Graham, Ward One.

Uh, for sake of time as well, I will just point out uh I think it's last Saturday is Bruce with Brian.

Um, so definitely make sure you are there for that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ward two veto.

Yes, veto ward two.

Uh I attended the uh monthly meeting at the uh breakfast uh buzz and the uh councilwoman Kara Kelly, the newly appointed uh interim representative uh for the ward was present to hear directly from constituents uh about neighborhood uh priorities.

She took the opportunity to engage with residents and address commonly uh community concerns.

And additionally, we were fortunate to have the state, Senator Marilyn Dundero Loop uh representing our district eight.

And and uh at least we got to talk to her, and although not not much was presented in depth, but it it's a link for us who contact with our concerns.

And uh a key presentation after that as usual's uh the summerlined metro area commander, uh Greg Femis, who gave an update on Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's drone as a first responder, which is very interesting.

I think he cuts on the uh helicopters fly all through the night and day, and uh usually staying there forever.

And uh the drone seems to do it uh much better job, according to the presentation uh quiet, and uh those who are concerned as far as privacy, they do not engage the cameras until they are on target or whatever it is.

So if you ever see one flying around, it doesn't mean that it's uh you have to uh jump inside because you're in a pool and and whatever.

Uh so it was very interesting, and uh and uh I was looking forward for additional information, and uh we are fortunate that every month we do have Metro coming and uh share uh v uh valuable information as far as safety and uh because it is a concern for a ward is traffic and safety.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And with word three, we have Jennifer Drum.

All right, Jennifer Drummond Ward 3.

This Sunday, um, October 4th, from 10 a.m.

to 1 p.m.

is a bi-national health fair at the Easter or East Las Vegas Community Center at 250 Northeastern Avenue.

They'll have screenings, blue shots, um, women's health services and much more.

So wanted to make sure that's out there.

And then Friday, November 21st, is the annual senior luncheon for those 55 plus at the East Las Vegas Community Center from noon to 2 p.m.

And people can call to reserve at 7022 915 15.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And word for myself, Deanna Rear Cameron.

Uh, just quickly, the next door app, neighborhood services.

I continually find seniors in need, and I see a lot of people who are assisting, and then I also see people who probably should not be assisting.

Uh so it would be great if you are wanting to learn more about the things that are going on in your wards, just sign up for your area, and you'll get plenty, trust me.

And then for any of the events going on, just please make sure that you are receiving our ward for newsletter so that you will have the the most up-to-date.

And that's it for me for the sake of time.

And now we have word for David Tilser.

Uh thank you very much, David Till's Award for.

Uh, first of all, I'd like to thank Mr.

Page, the executive director.

Uh, it was an excellent, excellent speech.

Uh, he answered every question before it was even asked.

So I'd like to thank him for that.

Uh, quickly, uh, on uh September 24th, here in Sun City, we had a program called uh trying to avoid being defrauded and ripped off by actually by licensed and unlicensed contractors.

Uh here in Sun City, we've had over 33 people in the last nine months being ripped off for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Uh one example that was given was uh to replace an irrigation system in somebody's front.

The first quote they got was 10,000, and they actually finally, after getting other quotes and speaking to people, had the entire job done for a little under 900.

Um our crime prevention specialist, Randy Kalansky was there.

I spoke with him afterwards, and he says it's probably even more than 33 because a lot of people feel so embarrassed that they fell into this that they don't even report it.

So we are asking people to do your diligence, get three and four uh quotes, uh, make sure these people have licenses and references and speak to people.

And then just quickly on Friday, October 24th, we'll have our annual Sun City night out where all of our contractors and all of our partners come and they set up booths, and a lot, a lot of people from Sun City and outside Sun City come to see what it is and what's going on, and uh it's usually a great event, and anybody can come.

We'd love to have you all come and uh thank you for your time.

Thank you, David.

And with word six, we have Caroline Mosdean.

Thank you, Tien.

Uh Caroline Mosdean, word six for the sake of time.

I'm just going to mention two things.

One is kind of a follow-up on DN.

Uh, please remember to uh sign up for and read the uh newsletters by your council person and even for all the other councils, because there are events that you're these cross events that you're more than welcome to.

And the only other thing, just for the sake of time here again, I just would like to remind people that the Hispanic Heritage Month still has a number of available dates for um uh activities and things of that sort.

So please uh take a look at the city um uh site for the uh flyer on uh 2025 Hispanic Heritage Month.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Item number eight discussion regarding next steps and future meeting topics of the senior citizens advisory board, all wards.

This is an ongoing agenda item, and I know today checkboxed one of them, our biggest one, uh, and we've been continuing to do so.

But we do have our lists, our running list, so unless somebody has something else.

We're getting down that list slowly but shortly.

Item number nine, citizens' participation.

Public comment during this portion of the agenda must be limited to matters within the jurisdiction of the board.

No subject may be acted upon by the board unless that subject is on the agenda and is scheduled for action.

If you wish to be heard, come forward and give your name for the record.

The amount of discussion on any single subject, as well as the amount of time and single speaker is allowed, may be limited.

Do we have any public or excuse me, so citizens participation?

Seeing and hearing none, our next senior citizens advisory board meeting will be here at our city civics center November 6th, 2025 at 1 p.m.

We are now adjourned.