Local participants help turn disabled vet’s residence into a habitable home

Disabled veteran Christina Slowik simply had to get out of her Las Vegas rental home.

The kitchen sink drained into the basement. The foundation showed cracks. Black mold lined the walls. Her kids and cats were getting sick.

So in 2013, Slowik bought a place near Rancho Drive and Cheyenne Avenue.

Turns out, the home Slowik purchased wasn’t much better. From plumbing to power to a subpar rear addition, much of the 43-year-old home failed to meet building codes.

But come Saturday, Slowik and the two teen sons who live with her will finally have a habitable home, thanks to local participants in a national effort to fix up homes for low-income families and veterans.

As part of National Rebuilding Day, more than 900 local volunteers and corporate sponsors including Wells Fargo, Southwest Gas, Lowe’s and Cummins Rocky Mountain are spending more than 7,500 man hours and at least $250,000 to remodel 20 area homes, including Slowik’s. Work has been underway for several weeks, with repairs expected to wrap Saturday.

The renovations don’t just help homeowners, said Cynthia Baca, executive director of Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada, a nonprofit that oversees local National Rebuilding Day initiatives.

“In addition to being able to provide a sustainable home for our clients, what we do is deeply involved in the revitalization and stabilization of our neighborhoods,” Baca said. “Ultimately, it maintains or increases home values, which is what we’re striving for as a community.”

Slowik found out about the program in June, after she received a letter about it. The U.S. Air Force vet reached out in November, when her heater stopped working.

“I asked if there were any way they could fix my heater. From there, it blossomed into this very large project,” Slowik said.

First up was the demolition of an illegally added back patio with electric wiring that would shock Slowik when she flipped the light switch. Also, what Slowik thought was an above-ground irrigation pipe that ran from the street around the house and through the garage was an improperly installed water main. The shower faucet leaked constantly; her water bill ran more than $100 a month.

Volunteers are also repairing structural damage, upgrading HVAC systems, replacing the roof, blowing in fresh insulation, and installing new lighting fixtures and energy-efficient appliances.

Slowik said her home was inspected before she closed. But Baca said home inspections can be inconsistent, with some inspectors noticing the smallest issues, while others don’t even spot major ones.

Slowik’s improvements will cost nearly $75,000 in fair-market value, Baca said, but the group has received deep discounts on materials and labor to bring the cost below $50,000.

Such fixes are broadly needed, especially in 30- to 40-year-old homes that often suffer from “deferred maintenance,” Baca said. And there are plenty of locals who can’t afford to keep up their homes: The Census Bureau says 16.4 percent of Clark County residents live in poverty, compared with a national rate of 14.5 percent.

Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada also helps 300 to 400 locals a year with critical repairs of less than $5,000. Both programs are first-come, first-served, following analysis of the home’s issues and verification that the owner’s income is 80 percent or less of the median household income, which was $52,873 countywide from 2009 to 2013, according to the Census Bureau. Homeowners who don’t qualify are referred to other agencies.

“They have made a commitment to the community by being homeowners and doing their best to maintain their home,” Baca said. “We can do our part to ensure they are now living in a safe home.”

For Slowik, a single mom who home-schools her 14- and 16-year-old sons, that guarantee will make all the difference for her family.

“To have a house in which I will not roast in the summer and freeze in the winter, to have a functioning water system, to have a home that actually feels like a home and not a building I happen to be living in — it will make our lives that much better,” she said. “I might have lost my home if I couldn’t fix these problems. It was sapping me financially to the point where I would have had to sell because I couldn’t afford it.”

Contact Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Find @J_Robison1 on Twitter.