COLUMN: Apartment homes ready for low-income seniors

Just in time for Christmas, low-income senior citizens have the opportunity to move into a new apartment at Buena Vista Springs III with a month's free rent.

What's the catch? There is no catch.

To comply with the tax credit program regulation, the management company is working to help get seniors placed into the apartments by the end of December. Currently, 12 of the 58 apartments are available for lease, and management is offering free rent during December or January to encourage potential renters to visit the apartments and consult with the leasing agents to discuss their housing needs.

Monthly rent ranges from $285 to $571 for one and two bedrooms and is assessed on a sliding-scale basis. Residents holding Section 8 rental assistance in the form of certificates and vouchers from local housing authorities are welcome.

Each unit features a private patio or balcony.

Resident amenities include controlled access entry, a library, computer center, TV and community room, exercise center and transportation to social activities.

The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call 647-4734.

The apartments are at the intersection of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue. While that neighborhood has suffered from lack of development and a high crime rate for years, projects such as Buena Vista Springs Senior Apartments are transforming the area into a respectable address.

Buena Vista Springs III is a public-private collaboration made possible through the involvement of several organizations and financial institutions.

Nevada HAND Inc. and Creative Choice Homes were the development partners and financing was obtained through the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, the state of Nevada Housing Division, Clark County, Wells Fargo Bank and California Federal Bank.

Public-private partnerships using creative financing tools, such as the Housing Tax Credit Program for development of affordable housing, are becoming more popular because of the benefits to the investors and the community.

For the investors, it means the opportunity to develop high-quality structures with low-interest loans that offer stable returns. The partners in this project were able to lure more than $3.7 million in tax credit investment from Boston-based Franklin Capital Group.

For the residents, these public/private partnerships mean affordable, quality housing. For the community, it means development in areas that might have otherwise been overlooked.

Concerns about neighborhood safety have been addressed. Creative Choice and the local office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development collaborated earlier this year to open a new police substation at the complex. Access to the building is controlled through a single entrance and each unit contains an alarm system.

Nevada's senior population has grown more than 60 percent in the past decade, more than any other state in the nation, and many of these seniors are challenged with living on below-median incomes.

Apartment buildings such as Buena Vista Springs III make it possible for low-income seniors to live in beautiful surroundings in dignity. The recreational amenities are definite morale boosters and the management team can help residents apply for federal or state programs that might make their lives easier.

Like I said, there is no catch. Any needy senior citizen looking to save a few bucks should head over to Buena Vista Springs III and look at these apartments.

Carmel Hopkins, real estate product manager for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun, can be reached at 380-4574. Her e-mail address is Carmel_Hopkins@ lasvegasnewspapers.com. Snail mail is P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.

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