NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — A North Las Vegas neighborhood is marking passage of a state law committing $37 million to help homeowners move from the once-segregated neighborhood where geologic features have made homes crack, sink and sometimes become unsafe.
Democratic state Sen. Dina Neal planned a gathering with Windsor Park residents on Wednesday to celebrate Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo's signature of the measure last Friday.
“It’s important that people know that this is not just some desolate place and that people do still live here," said Myrtle Wilson, who has lived in the Windsor Park neighborhood since 1965.
Lombardo's office did not immediately respond to messages about the law.
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Neal said $25 million will come from COVID-19 relief dollars and $12 million from a state housing fund that North Las Vegas will be expected to repay over four years.
The bill got bipartisan support in the Senate and passed the Assembly on party lines, with Republicans opposed.
Neal said it aims to help the last 90 residents move from the crumbling middle-class tract that had 241 homes accommodating Black families during an era of housing segregation.
“It is wonderful that we are all going to be getting new homes built on proper soil. And that we can live out our last days in peace and happiness," said Nancy Johnson, a Windsor Park resident.
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Neal has raised questions about how North Las Vegas spent millions of dollars in state, federal and government-sponsored Fannie Mae mortgage funds that she said had been allocated over the years to help residents move.
Neal said geologic surveys weren't done or did not show geologic faults and an underground water table that has since been depleted beneath the sandy hillside with a view of downtown Las Vegas and the skyline of the casino-lined Strip.
