Affordable Housing Hard to Find in Las Vegas

Sometimes called the working poor, thousands of families in Southern Nevada struggle to make ends meet, and affordable housing is becoming a distance dream for many of them.

Eyewitness News talked to one family who lives this everyday.

The young family plays by the book. Both parents work, their kids go to school, but they've gone from living in an apartment to living in a hotel. All because they say the cost of living in Southern Nevada is way out of their budget.

Brigette Young is talking about her annual income -- a number that does not add up when it comes to owning your own home. She's lived in Las Vegas for more than thirty years. A wife and mother of four, she and her husband both have jobs, but says it still isn't enough to survive.

She's trying to get help from a local agency to get a uniform and a new pair of shoes for her job. She and her husband have been trying to buy a home. But she says there just isn't enough help out there for families like hers.

"Barely making it because they need to lower the housing. Let most of us get into apartments. Right now, I am on a waiting list for housing. I've been on that list for two years now. I'm still waiting. Still waiting," Brigette said.

While she waits, she and her family have been forced to live in a motel for the last two weeks because the apartment they were living in was bought by the city of Las Vegas as part of a redevelopment project.

The young family is just one of many who are struggling, not only to buy a home but also to survive.

If this trend keeps going, it may force families to leave Las Vegas to find a more affordable place to live.