Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.
Mary McCarthy left California a decade ago, priced out of a state she could no longer afford. She settled into an apartment complex in Henderson — a comfortable enough life until last year, when the community dropped its 55-plus age restriction and rents climbed beyond her reach.
A friend mentioned a new senior affordable housing development called Heirloom at Rome in the northwest valley. McCarthy toured it was moved in by the next month.
“I said this, ‘I really, really believe I’ve come home,’” said McCarthy, who cited how the team at the complex, its vibe and friendliness all seemed like a perfect fit. “So this is my home.”
Heirloom at Rome is the latest affordable housing community by Heirloom at Ovation, the affordable housing affiliate of Las Vegas-based Ovation, which operates four other companies in construction, development, property management and asset management.
Jess Molasky, chief operation officer at Ovation, said the need for communities like Heirloom at Rome is great, particularly for people earning between 30% and 60% of the area median income, or approximately between $20,000 to $40,000.
“We’re a hard-working town, and so we need affordable options to live,” Molasky said.
With 10 acres and three buildings, Heirloom at Rome provides 275 units, most of which are available to seniors making less than the 50% of the area median income.
The complex contains a fitness room and movement studio, movie room and game lounge, a business center, a doctor’s office, a pool and wraparound services, Molasky said. Coordinated Living of Southern Nevada provides food pantry delivery, hiking outings, bingo and other activities, he said.
The property also offers dozens of tiny homes, each less than 400 square feet, that have their own amenities.
“We really are proud of creating this community with lifestyle and things for people to do,” Molasky said. “It’s very resortlike, at the end of the day.”
Ovation has built almost 3,000 affordable housing units over 18 communities, with another slated to open by the end of this year, Molasky said. By 2028, Ovation plans to bring an additional 1,300 residences to the market.
Heirloom at Rome owes much of its completion to dollars from Clark County’s Community Housing Fund and the Nevada Housing Division’s Home Means Nevada initiative, Molasky said. It was built on land formerly owned by the Bureau of Land Management granted to the City of Las Vegas with a deed restriction indicating only affordable housing could be built on it.
“There’s a lot of dollars and a lot of energy that go into one of these properties, but at the end of the day, the right way to think about it is community investment,” Molasky said. “Because everyone turns around and takes those dollars and pays their workers and buys materials and builds the thing, and it really is a benefit for the community’s economic situation.”
Las Vegas City Councilwoman Nancy Brune, who is also chair of the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, said Ovation pulled down multiple sources of government funding, including the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, to make the project happen.
The city is still about 70,000 units short of affordable housing, Brune said.
“Every little bit helps,” she said. “I think everybody’s working as hard as they can to add more units to our portfolio.”
When it comes to affordable communities developed through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, Molasky said, there’s major investment on the public and private side.
Nevada has been a leader in the affordable housing space, Molasky said, and he hopes that continues.
“That really is the key to this success,” he said. “None of this would work without that.”
Housing and homelessness were recently added to the city’s strategic plan, Brune said. Heirloom at Rome sits in Ward 6 of the city, Brune’s district.
Brune emphasized that affordable housing projects are not the concrete high-rises or brick buildings of historic public housing projects but look and feel like market-rate apartments with amenities, common areas and — in the case of Heirloom at Rome’s tiny homes — individual patios.
“We believe that good quality design does not have to be expensive,” Molasky said. “And I think we’re proving that you can … make these things really beautiful for not a lot more dollars. And so that’s something that I think Ovation is proud to bring to the marketplace.”
Seniors ages 55 and above on a fixed income are one of the most vulnerable populations, Molasky said.
“We really want good teachers — but if we want good teachers, they have to have a place to live,” he said. “And we really want good medical providers — but if we want good medical providers, they need a place to live. At the end of the day, everything comes back to housing. And so we need to build the type of housing that other people need.”
McCarthy, 75, has lived off her retirement savings since 2009. She said she wanted to spend her later years somewhere beautiful and comfortable — the kind of life she’d spent decades working toward. Heirloom at Rome delivers that.
She doesn’t drive, but her new home puts her within easy reach of the bus, giving her the independence to handle her own errands: grocery runs, doctor’s appointments, the rhythms of everyday life on her own terms.
“We still are people — just maybe slower people,” she said. “I do use a cane. I do have a walker, but again, we still have active minds. So retirement doesn’t mean quitting. It means keep going, but just maybe in a whole different concept of life now. So it’s a beautiful thing to be here.”
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