Spring Valley resident Ireland was laid off in March 2020 from The Mirage. She was recalled back in the fall but as an on-call employee. The handful of hours she was able to work affected her weekly unemployment benefits, because those hours must be reported to Nevada’s employment office, and resulted in her making less money each month than if she were to stop working and remain on unemployment.

“It was rough,” Ireland said.

She considered looking for a new job instead of remaining temporarily on-call but said it wasn’t worth the risk, especially because she has been an employee at The Mirage for 12 years.

“It was high wage pay, but I would have to sacrifice not having any medical insurance, which for me is more important than any high wage salary,” she said. “I know most people think when you’re working in hospitality it’s just a job. It’s actually more than that it’s an investment that many of us workers make because of the benefits, the wage and other incentives. Do I let my investment go down the drain or do I continue to fight for it?”

She learned about Clark County’s rental assistance program in December through Culinary Union 226 and quickly applied...