#greenspaces — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2026-08-09 · 14:45 UTC

More of this, please...!

#Nevada is trying a radical solution to boost #AffordableHousing

A major housing project in Nevada used to be a fairway. Other states should take a swing.

by Sara Herschander
Updated Aug 3, 2026,

An old #GolfCourse in #LasVegas is about to be transformed into the largest affordable housing complex in Nevada’s history.

Except: "If all 16,000 golf courses in America turned all of their land — about 2.3 million acres — into housing with the same density as #DesertPines, it would be enough space to build 22 million homes. If you applied that approach to only those courses that are, like Desert Pines was, municipally owned, then you could still build 4.3 million #affordablehomes which would make an enormous dent in the nation’s current shortage of about 7.2 million affordable homes.

"That’s not to say that every golf course in every land-constrained city ought to be bulldozed to make way for new apartment buildings [Nah. Rewild some of them, turn others into #CommunityGardens and #GreenSpaces]. Golfing, for the record, has made a bit of a comeback lately, much like its most famous star. And even if fairways were still closing at the rate they were a few years ago, there’s no way that they could solve Nevada’s housing gap alone, much less overcome the shortage nationwide. But they can still help close the gap.

"Ramos, who is among the local leaders organizing community meetings around the Desert Pines redevelopment, believes it could be transformative for the community over time. She says that in her neighborhood it’s become a luxury for many families just to live alone with their spouse and kids, rather than doubling up in cramped apartments, pooling together money each month to keep up with rising costs.

"When the Desert Pines redevelopment opens about a decade from now, it will include not just 1,500 housing units, but also a soccer pitch, #WalkingTrails, and a job training center. In East Las Vegas, the temperature often feels more than five degrees hotter than it does in the Badlands’ affluent suburbs, where residents enjoy over nine times as much parkland per person.

" 'This project brings a lot of hope,' said Ramos, who’s especially excited about the prospect of more #accessible, #KidFriendly #GreenSpaces. 'We’re all human. We need equity, respect, and to live with dignity, and that’s why we urgently need #trees too.'

"As it turns out, you can do a lot with an old fairway. Even with all of those bells and whistles, the new development will still likely use less water than the golf course did. And, because the plot of land is already enmeshed within the community of East Las Vegas — close to existing sewer, water, and electricity lines — it will be much cheaper to build there than it would be to try doing so on the outskirts of the city, said Antonio Bermúdez, vice president of McCormack Baron Salazar, the developer working with the city and state government on the proposal.

" 'What I’ve seen so far in the state of Nevada is that the political will is there,' he said, though the question is, 'how do we make this happen not just in Nevada and the city of Las Vegas, but everywhere else where affordable housing is needed.' "

#SolarPunkSunday #LessGolfCourses #MoreAffordableHousing #MoreGreenSpaces

#nevada #affordablehousing #golfcourse #lasvegas #desertpines #affordablehomes