HENDERSON (KTNV) — City of Henderson Mayor, Michelle Romero, delivered her State of the City Address on Thursday. Among the many fields the city is focused on— public safety and affordable housing are a top priority.
Mayor Romero said the city has been placing a focus on bringing in new recruits, even adding more public safety positions, meaning more first responders to protect Henderson residents and businesses.
I asked City of Henderson resident, Morrie Horton, if he thinks this is good for the city.
"Dang right it is, there’s no question, absolutely, the more you can get," Horton said.
Horton has lived in the city for decades. He said the firefighters who work at the station near his home are a friendly face in the neighborhood.
“My firefighters come over to my place all of the time, they stop in, I say hi to them, I wave at them, I just love them," Horton said.
During the State of the City Address, Romero commended Fire Academy 55 which had the largest graduating class ever with 33 new firefighters in July and the Police Academy— having its largest class with 37 cadets set to graduate next March.
“We always want to keep up with growth, but as we have officers that are retired out of the system, we always want that steady stream of new recruits coming in," Mayor Romero said.
Romero said the city also added 58 new public safety positions last year and another 14 this year.
Along with public safety, affordable housing is a big focus for the City of Henderson in the coming year.
There are at least 622 affordable housing units either being built or planned in the City of Henderson limits right now, according to the city's website.
The city also currently has 12 senior affordable apartments, 3 public housing affordable apartments, 6 family affordable apartments and 2 disabled affordable apartments, according to the city's website.
Mayor Romero said it's not just about building more affordable housing units. They also need more land to increase the amount of housing in Southern Nevada. She believes this will lead to cheaper homes and a higher surplus of them.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there's a shortage of 78,218 homes in the state.
Romero said the city is working closely with the federal government to make that happen.
“That is property that we need to responsibly grow and to respond to the needs of our community," Romero said.
Longtime Henderson resident of more than 40 years, Danny Montgomery, just lost his job. He said more affordable options are needed to help people like himself.
"Well, it would bring the rent down and more people would have places to stay. Families would have places to go," Montgomery said.
According to the Bureau of Land Management, the government owns 67% of the land in our state.
Romero said she'll continue to work with the government to get more land to house even more locals.
