Faulty AC troubled these North Las Vegas seniors for years. Then help arrived

The Gonzalezes wrestled with a failing air‑conditioning system for roughly half a decade in their North Las Vegas home. Small fans and a portable unit offered little relief against the summer heat, prompting Antonia Gonzalez, 76, and her husband Armando, 82, to consider staying with relatives in Canada or Colorado for months at a time. “We decided to go, and let the heat pass,” Antonia Gonzalez said in an interview. Their daughter Erica Sanchez tried repeatedly to keep the couple’s approximately 30‑year‑old condenser running. Wrapping tin foil around it did not stop the freon leak, and money spent to remodel the downstairs into a master suite never yielded consistently cool temperatures. Help arrived when Sanchez noticed a story about Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada’s services for low‑income homeowners and searched online. Twenty‑eight days after the family submitted an application, technicians installed a brand‑new unit on the patio. During an interview inside the Gonzalez residence on Monday—when outdoor temperatures hovered in the mid‑90s—the living room filled with cool air. “It was unbearable here,” Sanchez said. “They would stay with me, with cousins. Now, they’re home. It makes a difference.” ### Thousands may live without AC The Gonzalezes’ strong family support network played a key role in their outcome. A Las Vegas Review‑Journal investigation published in August found that, over the previous three years, a lack of functional air‑conditioning during extreme heat waves has contributed to the deaths of more than a dozen Southern Nevadans. The true toll could be higher because of inconsistencies in how the Clark County coroner records heat‑related fatalities. Victims often lack close family and live alone after losing a spouse or partner. According to first‑of‑its‑kind hyperlocal data from the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 6,700 residents of Clark County may be without reliable air‑conditioning. Bob Cleveland, CEO of Rebuilding Together Southern Nevada, attended the Monday home visit and praised the Gonzalezes as a success story. He said the group prioritizes air‑conditioning repairs over other projects such as roof work. Cleveland added that seeking additional state and federal funding is frequently hampered by stigma. “Nobody cares about our seniors,” Cleveland said. “If you’re not a puppy or a small kid with cancer, nobody cares. It’s so hard, particularly when they are homeowners.” He noted that one argument resonates with lawmakers: assisting homeowners with AC repairs imposes a far smaller fiscal burden on taxpayers than constructing alternative affordable housing. “The average cost to relocate a senior is $30,000 per person,” Cleveland said. “Per year, for this couple, they’d be $60