Residents in sinking Las Vegas neighborhood staying put

By Mike Allen

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    LAS VEGAS (KVVU) — Windsor Park, a neighborhood in North Las Vegas, is slowly sinking into the ground.

In the early 1990s, a study found the neighborhood, which was built between 1964 and 1966, was built on the juncture of two or more subsidence-related fault escarpments. Put simply, it means the ground is unstable and is sinking.

In 1994, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave the City of North Las Vegas millions of dollars to help people move somewhere safer. More than half the residents took the city up on the offer, but those who’ve stayed are committed to their homes.

“Your childhood community is priceless,” said Charlene Neal, who’s lived in the same house in Windsor Park for 48 years. “There’s no price tag you can put on that.”

Neal and her family have continuously turned down money to leave, even though she says the sinking ground has made it difficult to keep the house in good shape.

“This neighborhood is my home,” she said. “This is all I know. I’ve never moved out. I’ve been here all my life.”

Thanks to the grant from HUD, residents of Windsor Park are eligible for $100,000 to move out of their homes, plus up to $1,050 in relocation expense reimbursement. Those numbers haven’t changed since 2004 when the price of a home in the Las Vegas Valley was much cheaper.

Neal, along with several other homeowners in Windsor Park who spoke with FOX5, say they’d need much more than $100,000 to move out.

“For the remaining homeowners here to leave, it should be a great amount.”

The city says in order to offer more for peoples’ homes, it would require a new injection of money from either the state or federal government.

Just a couple blocks away from Windsor Park, a new industrial campus will open in late 2024. Some neighbors expressed concern to FOX5 about why a new business park is being built next to an area where homes aren’t even safe.

To that end, the City of North Las Vegas told FOX5 the area upon which the campus is being built is outside the geological area of the sinking neighborhood. The city adds the nature of industrial buildings making them a safer bet to build on that kind of ground regardless.

A full statement from the City of North Las Vegas can be read below:

The geographical issues facing the Windsor Park area are complex and ongoing. Much like earthquakes, flooding, fire or other naturally occurring disasters that displace homeowners, local municipalities traditionally rely on the federal government to provide aid and then work diligently to administer it on their behalf here locally. Such is the case with the soil, fissure and fault line issues facing Windsor Park. The City of North Las Vegas has been working to administer federal relief dollars and programming to the residents of Windsor Park since the 90′s and in various phases. Largely funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, an estimated $14.5 million has been spent to relocate more than half of the area’s original residents over the years.

Given the historical significance of this neighborhood and a passion to serve our diverse residents, the City of North Las Vegas continues to work with our incredible federal representatives and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to petition for additional resources for the remaining residents of Windsor Park. It’s our sincere hope that through continued collaboration at the federal, state and local level, we can bring additional assistance and resolution to those still in need. – City of North Las Vegas

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