Las Vegas man chooses homelessness over accruing pandemic debt

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) – Struggling tenants in Las Vegas were delighted to hear that federal and state eviction moratoriums were extended for a few months to protect them from being kicked out of their homes for failing to make payments during this pandemic to have.

But for some, the news is already too late.

RELATED: Governor Steve Sisolak extends Nevada’s eviction moratorium by two months

Brian Ward worked as a delivery driver prior to the pandemic, but health concerns related to the virus forced him to resign from his job last March. Since then, he has applied for financial assistance from the state of Nevada. But when he didn’t hear about it for months, he said he had no choice but to move out of his house and live out of his minivan.

“There’s a rent moratorium, right? And I actually took advantage of that for a couple of months. But then I realized it’s just stupid to get into more debt. I still managed to have other bills besides rent so I gave up my apartment and decided to live in my vehicle, “said Ward.

Despite being protected by state and federal eviction moratoriums, Ward chooses to be homeless rather than continuing to run into one-bedroom apartment debt that he currently cannot afford.

“In my opinion, the moratorium was a bad idea at first. I mean, you are postponing the costs into the future, for which your future generations will have to pay in the long term, even if everything goes well. The people who benefit from the moratorium, will be hit the hardest by taxes and rising costs and interest rates, so it’s a bad idea, “said Ward.

However, Brian says the bigger problem is the lack of a state response to his calls for help. For months, his applications for support from the Pandemic Unemployment Benefit (PUA) and the Cares Housing Assistance Program (CHAP) have remained largely unanswered.

“Literally thousands of phone calls. Most of the time it’s busy, waiting hours. There was more than one occasion where I was on hold for seven hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds. Then your call automatically ended,” said Ward.

Ward knows he is not alone and now fears that Nevada will face a great wave of homelessness in a few months. He’s just before the bend.

“It’s a really bad situation. Think about it, because rents have increased, property values ​​have increased because so many people have moved here. It won’t be a nice situation. There will be lots of people.” Looking for a new place all at once. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. I’ll do it from my vehicle, “said Ward with a chuckle.

DISCLAIMER: 13 Action News first learned of Brian Ward’s story from his property manager, who is a relative of a 13 Action News employee.

13 Action News contacted DETR but is still waiting for an answer.