By Dana Bykowski
November 17, 2003

Gathering with key members of the local real estate, homebuilding, mortgage finance, and gaming industries, Las Vegas (NV) Mayor Oscar Goodman held a CitiesFirst™ Roundtable discussion on October 22 at Las Vegas city hall.

Scott Syphax, President of the Nehemiah Corporation of California, the nation's leading privately funded provider of down payment assistance, joined with Goodman to discuss strategies for dealing with the housing issues facing the city. Some of the participants included: Las Vegas Housing Authority, Household Bank, Tropicana Hotel & Casino Resorts, MGM Grand, HAND Enterprises, Citibank, HUD, Wells Fargo Bank, Help USA, Boyd Gaming, Countrywide Home Loans, Nevada State Bank, Las Vegas Association of Realtors, Las Vegas Community Services Agency, and Catholic Charities.

Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing urban communities in the country with roughly 6,000 people moving into the area per month, with the average median home price at currently at $187,000. The city is constantly looking for ways to improve housing availability and quality for the growing population. One of the major issues addressed at the roundtable was the availability of affordable, permanent housing for the gaming workforce that reside in the city. Stable and permanent quality workforce housing is especially crucial to the success of the city because of the large number of service-oriented residents who need to live in Las Vegas because they work at the many casinos, hotels, and entertainment venues.

"Gaming is the economic engine that drives the Las Vegas economy. We have some serious work to do in providing the workforce in this city with housing options that are available and affordable to lower-income workers," stated Gina Polovino, Vice President of Government Affairs for Boyd Gaming. The transient nature of lower-end paying jobs combined with the issue of constantly training new gaming industry employees has created a problem for the city in terms of being able to keep a steady workforce living in the city for an extended period of time.

"The workforce here is very transient in part because there is a shortage of stable and permanent housing for these people. Unstable housing causes a transient workforce. It can become a vicious cycle that ultimately hurts the economy of our city," noted Betsy Fretwell, Deputy Mayor for the City of Las Vegas. "By improving the housing we are improving the overall economic well-being of Las Vegas."

Goodman and CitiesFirst™ addressed local housing affordability concerns while offering potential strategies and solutions for the future. This included ways in which Nehemiah's down payment assistance program, The Nehemiah Program¨, can be better utilized in the community. They also announced an integral addition to the housing solution in the form of the Nehemiah Community Reinvestment Fund (NCRF), a nonprofit community development loan fund offered to mayors through the CitiesFirst™ program.

"Las Vegas has very many impressive housing and community development initiatives that are working, and working well. We are here to simply lend our resources, partner with the local organizations here at the table today, and work together to find affordable and stable housing solutions for residents," said Scott Syphax, President & CEO of the Nehemiah Corporation of California.

CitiesFirst™ announced that NCRF, capitalized at $5.5 million, is extending its new initiative "Moving People from Homelessness to Homeownership" in the Las Vegas metro area. NCRF will begin making short-term, low-interest loans to community- and faith-based nonprofit organizations for the development of affordable, workforce and special needs housing as well as community facilities and economic development in low-income and underserved communities. This initiative was also launched in Akron, Ohio last month under the leadership of Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic, Conference of Mayors Vice President.

"A discussion such as the one we are having today could potentially re-define the state of housing and community investment in our city," said Goodman, "It is public-private partnerships such as CitiesFirst™ that send a message to mayors that the expertise of everyone in this room is crucial to make our housing needs and goals become reality."

Founded in 1999 by Nehemiah, NCRF has been making self-funded loans and equity investments in community development projects in California since 2000. Nehemiah Community Reinvestment Fund was established to support our organization's overall strategy of encouraging community revitalization through comprehensive, regionally focused affordable housing and community redevelopment programs. The loans will range in size from $10,000 to $750,000 and will have terms extending up to 5 years. NCRF will exclusively offer short-term loans in order to maintain a constantly recycling pool of funds, thus allowing the fund to finance many more projects and achieve greater community impact within the Las Vegas community.

NCRF's housing loans will finance all phases of affordable and workforce housing development from feasibility studies and land purchase to construction and short-term permanent financing. A wide variety of projects will be eligible including rental housing, senior residences, single room occupancy units, housing for people with special needs and the formerly homeless as well as ownership housing. Community facilities loans will support a wide range of community- and faith-based organizations, and essential human service agencies, including churches, providers of child care, health care, employment training, substance abuse and AIDS services, senior services and educational facilities. NCRF's economic development loans will finance projects that create jobs and contribute to the economic revitalization of neighborhoods located in low-income census tracts including mixed-use developments, offices, retail and small business incubators. All borrowers will receive technical assistance tailored to meet the needs of their organization or project.

"Nehemiah is committed to serving the continuum of housing needs for Las Vegas residents. By working in partnership with local, regional and national institutional investors, NCRF will act as a financial conduit of capital resources to local nonprofit organizations working to rebuild their community from the inside out," said Syphax. "Flexible, financially prudent use of debt, when accompanied by one-on-one technical assistance, is a powerful tool for community revitalization."

Over the next three years, NCRF expects to make loans totaling nearly $13 million for community development projects nationwide, worth in excess of $40 million. For more information about CitiesFirst™, or to host a roundtable in your city, please contact Managing Director Dana Bykowski at the U.S. Conference of Mayors headquarters at (202) 296-4094 or dbykowski@usmayors.org.