An affordable housing community will grow in east Las Vegas to cope with rising housing costs for seniors.
Developers have laid the foundation stone for Desert Oasis II, a proposed 43-unit apartment complex built and operated by nonprofit Volunteers of America National Services. It will complement the existing 75 senior housing units at Desert Oasis I, 4445 Diamond Head Drive. The developers hope for an opening in autumn 2022.
Both buildings provide full support services to help seniors live independently, said Sharon Wilson Geno, chief operating officer of Volunteers of America National Services.
“Our residents live better, healthier and longer independently and not go to nursing homes and supervised licensed care because we already have a service coordination model,” she said.
Rent in both buildings is based on income, with residents expected to have 80 percent or less of the median income in the area. Management plans to improve their service coordination model by adding an “Aging with Options” program, a community health worker and a part-time wellness nurse.
Desert Oasis II will include a leisure clubhouse with a computer room, gym, laundry and community garden, the developers said.
The nonprofit began the expansion process about two years ago after a development director visited Las Vegas to see the need for affordable housing in the city, Wilson Geno said.
“(She) was amazed at the number of seniors she saw on the street,” she said. “It was just clear that the homeless population in Las Vegas had grown dramatically.”
The project is supported by funding from the Nevada Housing Division’s Low Income Tax Credit program, HOME funding from the City of Las Vegas and Clark Counties, and United Health Care, according to Volunteers of America.
Affordable housing for seniors is critical to the aging senior population, but it cannot solve the growth problem, said Wilson Geno. Data from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies in 2016 found that housing costs weighed on nearly 10 million older adults.
Wilson Geno hopes full service will help meet some of the challenge.
“You’ve heard all of the data about the coming silver tsunami, which will affect the growth of baby boomers who are living longer, living with more chronic conditions due to advances in medical health, and living with fewer resources due to their savings were never designed to go beyond this Time to live past average lifespan, ”said Wilson Geno. “It’s important because we need to take care of them more cost-effectively as a nation.”
McKenna Ross is a corps member of Report for America, a national utility that places journalists in local newsrooms. Contact them at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.
