LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A multi-generational home is showing cracks, but it’s not because of the eight children who grew up there. The Windsor Park neighborhood is sinking.
Clarissa Renier and her mother, Annie L. Walker, live in a North Las Vegas community where some street lights aren’t working and there are many cracks in the road, but at night they can still see parts of the Las Vegas Strip. The view brings neighbors together.
The big concern here for more than 20 years has been the sinking of the roughly 90 remaining homes between Cartier, Clayton and Evans.
“I’m looking at you. I’m like, ‘Mom.’ I said, ‘Did you see the crack?”’ Rainier said Wednesday morning inside her home, referring to a recently discovered separation in the wall and ceiling that extends from the kitchen to the adjacent hallway. . “I may not have a million dollars, but I’m still somebody.”
Walker moved into the house in 1967, during what she calls an unofficial segregation.
“I don’t think we’ve been treated fairly as a people,” Walker said while sitting on a couch discussing the historically black community.
Unfortunately, their story is not unique. More than 20 years after the district and more than 200 homes were established, surveys discovered geological faults and aquifers beneath it. As water from the aquifer depleted, homes became dilapidated and some were even on the verge of being demolished.
Other former residents relocated with federal assistance before their homes were demolished.
About 90 homes are scattered on vacant land, but state and federal funding to help relocate the remaining residents is reportedly difficult to come by.
These are the sentiments of Democratic Nevada Sen. Dina Neal. She said she has tried unsuccessfully to trace the various funding sources earmarked specifically for this community.
She mentions the 1999 funding. Her $14 million in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Fannie Mae bonds that were supposed to generate $300,000 a year.
“All we know is that it’s been producing money since 1999 until now. It’s not clear how much it is,” Sen. Neal told 8 News Now on Wednesday morning. told. “It’s also not clear what it was used for or how it was attached.”
At a meeting with Windsor Park residents Wednesday morning, she assured the approximately 20 attendees that Fannie Mae account numbers are listed in the City of North Las Vegas’ current budget.
This is in addition to new funding approved this year. During the 2023 legislative session, SB 450 would be approved to build new homes of the same size for the remaining residents, pay off their mortgages, and allocate $50,000 each in restitution for taxes, insurance, and moving costs. Ta.
The $37 million allocation is made up of $25 million in COVID-19 relief funds and $12 million in state general funds that North Las Vegas will repay over four years. The senator said the $50,000 restitution will be paid by the city.
After passing the bill, the senators contacted the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which began an audit of these Windsor Park funds on May 22, 2023, Neal said.
The most recent information she received was in August of this year, when HUD allegedly told her that its investigation into how the funds were distributed had been moved internally.
“That’s where we are right now, and we’re looking for the final outcome and resolution of the HUD audit,” Neal said. “We are in the process of raising $37 million, which is additional money that was included in the bill and will be very important to how (Windsor Park residents) will sustain themselves after relocation. is important.”
Back home, Renier and Walker see the rift growing larger by the day, and are frustrated that nothing is being done to put them and their neighbors in a better position.
“I just want North Las Vegas to be accountable. I want them to be honest about what they should have done and didn’t do,” Renier said. He spoke, referring to past community meetings with North Las Vegas officials on the issue. “They’re not putting it into action. As the old saying goes, ‘Actions speak louder than words.'”
“Where is that money? What did you do with that money?” Walker added.
A representative for the City of North Las Vegas told 8 News Now that the fund is in full compliance with the law and denies any HUD audits involving the fund.
Additionally, here is a statement from the City of North Las Vegas:
SB450 The legislation requires the city to transfer the remaining approximately $2.5 million in federal funds provided in 1999 to the state. The city is eager to transfer the remaining federal funds to the state and is simply waiting for the state to establish the program as required by SB450. Once the state and the Nevada Housing Authority establish the program, the city will transfer the remaining $2.5 million in federal funds to the state, as permitted by federal law.
The Nevada Governor’s Office also told 8 News Now in a statement:
Although the department does not have a firm plan for relocating residents, the department is actively working with the Uplift Windsor Park Advisory Committee to determine the best way to communicate directly with Windsor Park residents.
The office added that the new advisory committee, which includes Sen. Neal, met for the first time on September 11th.
