Opening for new afforable housing community in Las Vegas honors local civil rights leaders

July 16, 2026 - 6:38 pm Taja Reese moved into her flat last week after enduring months of homelessness. She had been living out of her car while working as a DoorDash driver until an accident totaled her vehicle and fractured several bones in her feet. Reese described the unit—one of 80 apartments at the newly opened Beals‑Henderson Pointe affordable housing community on 5901 Duncan Drive—as far more than just a place to sleep. She recalled the moment she entered: “When I opened the doorway and saw this was each mine, I conscionable cried,” Reese said. “It means that I person a accidental to live.” Her remarks came during the grand opening and ribbon‑cutting ceremony attended by Southern Nevada housing officials and city leaders. Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley addressed the crowd, stating: “We are each entitled to unrecorded successful a spot that is harmless and cleanable and has amenities truthful that erstwhile children are increasing up here, they consciousness valued,” Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley said astatine the ceremony. The development is reserved for households earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area’s median income. It honors Alversa Beals and Essie Henderson, two of the principal organizers of the 1971 Caesars Palace protest that won wage and labor improvements for Southern Nevada. Family members of both women were present to witness the tribute. Berkley added: “It is truthful important that we admit radical that made a quality successful this community, but ordinarily would person been unsung heroes,” Berkley said. “But from present on, everyone volition cognize what these singular women did.” Beals‑Henderson Pointe offers a clubhouse, playground, basketball court, lounge areas and barbecue stations. The project was created by The Michaels Organization in partnership with the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, financed through private equity generated from the sale of federal low‑income housing tax credits and American Rescue Plan Act funds. All 80 units are now occupied. Kathy Thomas, the housing authority’s chief housing service manager, noted that the property’s design and amenities challenge preconceptions about affordable housing. She said: “People deliberation affordable lodging lowers the worth successful a community,” Thomas said. “But erstwhile you spot this and look around, you don’t thrust past this and go, ‘Oh, that’s subsidized housing.’ You thrust past this improvement and say, ‘That is beauteous housing. I wonderment if they person immoderate vacancies.’”