Casa Rosa residents describe conditions

One by one, the residents of the Casa Rosa public housing complex stood Wednesday evening to tell, sometimes tearfully, what they've been living with for years.

Bed bugs. Mold. Sewage smells. Holes in the floors and walls. Leaky toilets. Peeling paint.

"My toilet has been running four or five years now," a seven-months-pregnant Dewillow Fitch told the board of the North Las Vegas Housing Authority when her turn came. The toilet water has leaked through to the ceiling of the living room below, according to the mother of four.

Fitch was one of dozens of Casa Rosa residents who appeared before the board during the public comment period of its regular meeting. Many said they have been complaining and waiting for repairs to be made for years.

The North Las Vegas agency last week declared an "emergency for the immediate relocation" of 21 poor families living at Casa Rosa after a city inspector found unsafe and unsanitary conditions, including water or sewer leaks, at the property.

But the families were still in their units nearly a week later, and officials said they might not be moved until Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving. Where exactly they will go remains undecided.

The city last month ordered the housing authority to either repair or demolish many of its decades-old Casa Rosa family units near Las Vegas Boulevard North and Owens Avenue because they are unsafe.

Code violations including failing stairways, rotting rafters, broken windows, wiring problems and mold were found in 57 of the complex's 100 units.

One woman said she hasn't been able to use her bathtub in years because of mold growing in it.

"I'm tired of hearing 'It's an old building,'" she said. "I want out of here."

The problems came to light after the Las Vegas Housing Authority, which recently took over maintenance of North Las Vegas' public housing properties, contacted the city with concerns about substandard conditions there.

The Las Vegas agency assumed maintenance of the properties after officials with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which largely funds housing authorities, found the smaller city's housing agency to be incompetently managed.

The North Las Vegas Housing Authority is responsible for 220 public housing units.

But the maintenance contract, worth roughly $100,000, is too small to handle major repairs, said Carl Rowe, director of the Las Vegas agency.

He contacted North Las Vegas officials because he was alarmed at the conditions at Casa Rosa, he said.

"When you bounce on the landing and it almost falls through, it's very hard to say that's not a problem," he said.

North Las Vegas Housing Authority administrators and board members have blamed shrinking public housing funding from HUD for the problems.

"We either have to kick ... people out or fund less maintenance," North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon said after the meeting on Wednesday.

Montandon and three other North Las Vegas City Council members serve on the board of the city's housing authority. Also serving double duty are William Robinson, Stephanie Smith and Robert Eliason.

The mayor said officials will "marshal every dollar to repair what needs to be repaired."

Both the housing authority and the city have acknowledged that the city probably will have to pony up funding to help relocate families and repair the units. The North Las Vegas City Council probably will discuss the issue at its meeting next Wednesday.

Councilwoman Shari Buck, the only council member not on the housing authority board, has said it's inappropriate for council members to also sit on the housing authority board and make decisions that could affect the agency.

Montandon, who has served on the agency's board more than 11 years, said no one else would take on the responsibility of serving on the board.

"It's impossible to replace us because nobody would want to," he said.

HUD also has criticized the makeup of the board.

Don England, executive director of the North Las Vegas Housing Authority, acknowledged on Wednesday that HUD some time ago directed that board members who also serve on the City Council be replaced.

But HUD "didn't say it needed to be done immediately," he said.

The housing authority wanted to submit applications to HUD to dispose of or demolish its public housing before replacing board members, England said.

Both the North Las Vegas and Las Vegas housing authorities plan to get rid of much of their public housing in coming years, replacing it with Section 8 vouchers that can be used to rent housing. Critics have said public housing communities trap families in a cycle of poverty.

In the meantime some Casa Rosa residents will eventually be moved into an extended-stay hotel or other affordable housing while their units are repaired.

Angry residents on Wednesday said housing authority officials hadn't told them about the possible move or whether repairs would be made to their units. Some said the only information they had came from articles in the Review-Journal.

"Being poor, we don't have anybody," one woman said. "It doesn't seem like anybody wants to stand for us."

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.