It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

Unknown Speaker 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 0:45
Good morning Las Vegas, thank you for tuning in and listening to it's where I am on 91.5 FM, K, u and v. This is Dr. G, clinical and public relations director for great minds counseling and Wellness Center. I'm here today with an individual that I'm really excited to introduce to all of you this morning. This is Levi Schultz who is running for a congressional seat. Let me get this correct, though. He is running for the US House of Representatives Nevada's fourth can get congressional district. Good morning, Levi and welcome to it's where I am.

Unknown Speaker 1:29
Good morning, Dr. G, I'm so excited to be here. Well, I'm

Unknown Speaker 1:33
excited to host you this morning and and for our listeners and for our community and for US state to have a little bit more of an opportunity to get to know you. And so what I'm really hoping for this morning is that as you and I have some coffee together, and we just hang out that voters have an opportunity to really get to know who you are as a person. What are some areas that you hope to make some systemic change throughout our state? And to really identify what are some areas that you're passionate about? So you if you're ready to go, I'd like to just jump in and and introduce you? Yes,

Unknown Speaker 2:19
I am ready to go? Absolutely. My biggest issue that I have wanted to tackle is affordable housing. So as you know, with great minds, affordable housing has been affecting everything because it affects how it affects how people interact with within their jobs within their communities within their families. And if and it's a such a big stressor in the state that it's affecting the way people are, are, you know, buying groceries and goods and consuming things. And if people have less money than they don't they don't spend on themselves. And they don't take in the goods and services that this the city has to offer outside of tourism. So that's that's my biggest issue. But another issue that I that I would like to take on is health care.

Unknown Speaker 3:13
So can I jump in first, and I want to just acknowledge affordable housing. So I've had the privilege are providing clinical services throughout the state of Nevada. I've lived in both Las Vegas as well as Reno. And I can really speak to housing prices soaring up in both the north and the south. And it becoming too expensive for families to find housing apartments. And and so this is really causing a lack of workers for lots of different industries, because it's no longer affordable to live throughout the state of Nevada. And so do you have any thoughts in terms of you know, when we when we acknowledge that we all agree that this is a real issue within our state, but do you have some ideas in terms of maybe as as a government, how we can kind of think about this and maybe make some positive impact throughout the state of Nevada?

Unknown Speaker 4:25
Yes, absolutely. We have to think about the role that corporations play in our lives, particularly around housing, because what I've discovered is that we have a ton of these large corporations that are buying up single family houses. So they have the opportunity to artificially inflate the rates, and it affects both homeowners and renters. So you know, private equity owns roughly 55% of all apartment units around the country, and they're slated to own just shy I have 40% of all housing in the United States in 2030 by 2030. So that's the biggest issue within our housing market is the fact that we have these large corporations that folks are going out having to compete with, and they're giving cash offers. And and they simply, people simply can't compete when they're going to go buy homes. Not to mention Housing and Urban Development, has already stated there's a shortage. So when you have something that's in short supply, and corporations are buying up, the the portion that is available, it causes the price to go up. So it's also an issue where these landlords are operating with impunity throughout the state. So there is no rent caps, there's no reprieve for the consumer in the housing market. So it's, it's a, it's a big problem. And it affects so much when I was at Cheyenne High School, I was talking to our kids about the quality of the education they're getting. And I also talked to a few teachers, yes, and they were saying that, you know, the cost of the housing is unsustainable. So they are considering leaving the state because it's, they can't afford to be here.

Unknown Speaker 6:15
So listeners, you can't see my facial responses, my eyes are getting larger, because Levi is highlighting a huge need for many of us, that that we all, on some level are impacted by how our housing, housing prices have just just increased, and pun intended gone through the roof. And where many of us that I would view as just being working class, individuals, working class families are having more and more trouble being able to afford paying rent and sustaining. I would refer as you know, I mean, decent housing. And so you know, we have Liva, you highlighted that there's these larger corporations that are purchasing all these homes, and that they're really creating this lock on, on the ability for people such as teachers to find affordable housing, which then therefore is is creating conversations where individuals may decide to leave the state because their their salaries, not matching in regards to being able to just survive in terms of how much they're making annually. So this is a huge conversation, because already I feel like within the state of Nevada that our teachers may not have or be reimbursed for the work that they're doing. And their role is so essential to us as a as a community as a state, honestly, I believe anyways, to thrive and to move forward. So as as a congressional candidate, you know, this is one area that is really important to you. And so if you don't mind, Levi, you and I, we've had the opportunity, I've had the opportunity to get to know you a little bit. Could you share with our listeners on 91.5 FM, a little bit about your background and maybe share why housing and affordable housing is a topic that is important to you?

Unknown Speaker 8:40
Yes, absolutely. So, you know, I was born in California, but raised here by a single mother. My mother worked tirelessly. I watched her work in the healthcare field as a CNA tirelessly to put food on the table. We lived outside of Nellis Air Force Base, in the area where a lot of transient folks live, because that's what we could afford. And we realized from a very young age, that it's expensive to be poor. And in that time, you know, a lot of folks have feelings about, I guess you would say, social programs. But in that time, my mother did not want something handed to her. She wanted a fair shot. And to me as a leader in society, that fair shot comes from the ground up, it doesn't come from leading from top down, so you have to get on the ground and know what people's plights are. So we endured quite a bit of our fair share of poverty, our fair share of strife and not knowing where the next meal is going to come from, especially after my mother broke her wrist as a CNA, and we were were forced to, even to lower our standard of living at that point, and, and live wherever we could simply afford. I bounced around from school to school in the CCSD. School District. And I have firsthand experience. So when I'm speaking from the perspective of a candidate, I'm not speaking just as a candidate, I'm speaking as someone who lived it, who knows what the issues are, and is not far removed. From that. My mom still works for the state. She's a, she's a worker for the Cooperative Extension for you and our, and she still serves her community. And she's, she's done that her whole life, but I see that it, it just in my eyes, it has not paid off the way that it should for someone who has done nothing but serve her community.

Unknown Speaker 10:57
So this this story, Levi moves me, and it moves me because honestly, not too long ago, you know, I was homeless, and I was homeless for about eight weeks. And I am deciding to share this with our listeners, because I feel like homelessness can impact any one of us. And it can happen at any time. And it's not just an issue for individuals that others may view that come from a lower socio economic status, that it impacts all of us. And that, as we've seen some of our development occur here in Las Vegas, which I think is phenomenal, because I hope it's creating new jobs. And it's fueling some of our wealth fueling the economy. We've also seen though, how how housing prices have just increased astronomically. So we've seen historically, in the past, a lot of individuals come into the state of Nevada from California, because of housing prices, and that how housing historically has been significantly lower here versus California. And now though, you know, it's it's increasing at a rate. That's pretty, pretty exponential. And to a point though, where it's becoming almost out of reach for working class, middle class families. So, you know, I feel at as clinical director at great minds, we provide a lot of clinical services to community members that suffer with mental illness, and that may fall within classification, or may have severe mental illness. And it's not uncommon that a handful or a good percentage of these individuals struggle with homelessness and being able to attain affordable housing, one of the barriers that we've observed that great minds is that for an individual to secure a rental lease, they need to make three times the amount of of what the monthly rent is. And that's really setting up a huge systemic barrier for individuals that are receiving monthly Social Security income. And that's really for many of these individuals, their soul, their sole income, and so they're having difficulties then being able to access housing, because, you know, they are only living off of their social security income. And so, you know, I'm excited and passionate as well as you are Levi to see how the state of Nevada you know, can create I don't know brainstorming or plans to help these individuals move forward and in a safe way, you know, I I believe anyways, that you know, basic needs have to be met in order for individuals then to have the emotional and mental capacity to then learn and then master other skill sets, like I don't know, maybe learning how to manage your bank account, and and balance a checkbook. And, and if you know, we're worried about though, where I'm gonna lay my head down at the end of the day, or where my next meal is gonna come from, you know, all those other skills that we need to really navigate, I think in a safe way throughout life. We're never going to have the opportunity to master those. Yes, yes. So something else that you shared at the top of this show, Levi, is that another area that you're passionate about is is access to medical health coverage? Can you speak a little bit about that and kind of just talk about, you know, what you'd like to see available for community members throughout the state? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 15:22
So. So for the United States as a whole, we have to change our view of what governance is, we invest in a lot of things in this country, I served the military. I've seen it firsthand, I've seen how the United States taxpayer dollars spent, at least in the, in the capacity of the military, and I can tell you that as a country, we're not investing in people, which is the most critical element of maintaining a country and, and being able to, to thrive to have a healthy citizenry that we invest in. And I think that health care should be a human right, that is subsidized. Now, a lot of folks say, well, there's no way to do that, that's going to cost so much. The interesting part about that is at this current time, you see how much the United States is able to muster for warfare. And I can tell you, that's not a dig against the United States military, we need a military. But I can tell you from service, that a lot of that money is not going to the troops, a lot of that money is going to failed Pentagon projects, like the V 22 project that the Pentagon announced was not suitable for carrier operations, but we paid $6.4 billion for Wow. So there's a lot of waste in government that we can allocate toward moving in this direction to include setting up a single payer system for health care, to reduce the cost. And to allow a level of transparency in our health care. I think that we need to, we should dare to be greater. And I think that the greatness of America comes from investing in its people, because when you do, the people are able to unleash a level of ingenuity and creativity, that that rivals, you know, everyone around the world, I love

Unknown Speaker 17:23
that dare to be greater. Exactly. So healthcare so expensive. It is and and I agree, I mean, I it should be accessible by everyone, by every citizen. You know, it. There's so many different layers. I was facilitating family therapy the other day, and I continue to see this family pro bono, because their health insurance has lapsed, Mom was initially gonna lose her job. She was being laid off. And coincidentally, she works in substance use treatment in the field. And it was it was just low census for the holiday time. And so they were laying off employees, this employer, and henceforth, mom lost her health insurance that covered both her and her five year old daughter that that I see and family therapy. And so we were talking about through the exchange, what are some ways in which this family could access health care coverage. So that, you know, God forbid, if something was to happen, the family could be seen by a medical doctor physicians, and not receive these huge astronomical bills for Caribee that they may have to pay for in cash. Because they they're not covered under health insurance, and trying to navigate, navigate different plans and what's available. It was really confusing, and I'm someone who works in the field of health care as a mental health provider. And so, you know, there has to be an easier way for families, for individuals to be able not just to have access to health care, again, to be able to afford afford health care coverage and good decent health care coverage. Any other thoughts you want to share with our listeners Levi around around this topic before we move on? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 19:35
I do see it as complex. I see it as a big hurdle for the country. But the biggest thing about Washington that upsets me and led me to run for offices, that we lack civility, and our politicians have managed to create a system along with corporations that don't serve the interests of the people, but serve the interests of the wealthy few. And that's demonstrated by campaign finance. When you look at the campaign finance of, of some of the top politicians, both Democrat and Republican, in the House and Senate, they are funded primarily by corporations. So the special interest is first, their own career interests are second, and the people are somewhat third. And I can tell you as a as a military member, when I was in one thing that I learned from the military is selfless devotion to duty. When I, when I was leading my sailors, I lead my sailors, because I cared about them, and I had to be responsible for their safety. Every time they went up to the aircraft carrier flight deck, I thought about if something happened to them, I would have to talk I would have to tell their family, I would have to face their family and I was personally responsible. And that's what I want to bring to, to office. I think we have a lot of priorities in this country. And none of them have seemed to be bettering the lives of our citizens, our every day, working people in this country. In 2008, when the banks collapsed, my father lost his home in California. And, you know, the Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, went to bat and got $700 billion for the banks. So there was a big bank bailout. And regardless of if the banks needed it or not, they were allocated a certain amount of money. Now, I understand the reason for that it was to stop the collapse from happening. But the businesses who acted irresponsibly were bailed out. But the people on Main Street were left out to dry. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 21:53
I recall that. Exactly. A lot of people losing their homes, a lot of small businesses closed due to that recession. And it took us several years, I think, to really come out of that. And, and for those of us that have worked really hard for being able to become a homeowner, it was just a devastating time for many citizens across the United States. So you were in the Navy? Yes. And you did three tours, yes. Which, and thank you for, for serving our country. And, and so I've had the privilege as a clinical provider to support a lot of military families. And I can say that I've helped a lot of military couples remain married, because deployment is so challenging on a family system, and just having one spouse, you know, gone for eight to 12 months at a time. And it's just very taxing on our relationship and our marriage. And so, thank you, again, for serving our country and, and contributing and keeping us safe as a whole as a country. Because for those of you who serve, you know, we I hope all feel indebted, and helping, you know, keep America safe. So, you know, as a as a military veteran, would you like to share anything? Like how the and I hear it a little bit already, Levi and how your time when you've served has helped shape some of your views and your lens? Is there anything else that you might like to share with our listeners as they get to know you? Yes.

Unknown Speaker 23:48
I think that the, the US military when I was in the Navy, it was something that I took very seriously. I'm more so took my oath to my people more seriously than anything. The leadership aspect of it is probably the most enjoyable part of my my service was was leading my sailors and watching them improve and grow. And it's, it's, I can tell you from the folks that are serving right now, it is a sacrifice on several levels. Because when you go to sea, you realize that that the conditions are not prime, right? The food isn't it isn't fantastic. The the housing accommodations in the military are not where they should be, I would say and you really are serving for the for the selflessness and the selfless devotion to the country and and to ultimately the commitment you make to your sailors. So that was that was what drove me in the military. was not, per se the mission but the oath that I owed and the responsibility I had to lead my people. So I'm

Unknown Speaker 25:08
so moved by that Levi and and and what I've heard you say two or three times now is is the word civil T and selfish devotion and how you were so committed and devoted to the young men and women that you oversaw to just hold in mind always their their safety and their well being. And I relate this back to what you're doing today. And and and the role that you're attempting attempting to step into as a representative for the Nevada Fourth Congressional District, and representing a key constituency. That was a hard word for me to say. But but, you know, your your should you be voted by community members into this congressional role. You'll be leading, you know, if you will, your sellers, to hopefully, you know, make a difference in regards to how we may do things in the future throughout the state of Nevada that will, hopefully ultimately benefit the well being of of individuals living in the state of Nevada. Oh, yes. So, Levi, is there anything really quickly, that you would like to share with our listeners before we end this morning show?

Unknown Speaker 26:44
Well, I would like to say that my campaign is not business as usual. The oath that I take that I will take as a representative is the oath that I will hold to each and every person in our society, we we deserve to provide them with better we deserve a better form of leadership that is on the ground and understands what people's plights are. And I would like to be the personable congressman, that everyone knows that you're that that's not simply collecting a check or going to Washington to trade stocks on insider information, but someone who is actually a face in the community that cares about each and every person's well being.

Unknown Speaker 27:28
I love that. I love that. And so listeners if you are interested, and learning more about Levi Schultz, you can learn more on Instagram at Levi for house so that's LEVYF O our house. You can also if you are a tick tock person. You can learn more about Levi at Levi for house. He's making this really easy for all of us listeners as well as what's this other social media platform Levi?

Unknown Speaker 28:09
Oh, it's X.

Unknown Speaker 28:10
Oh x okay, well, I'm I'm not as hip as others but I'm learning I'm learning. And that is at Levi for house. And also there's one more one more way that that we can learn more about Levi is on his website, which is www dot vote for Levi schultz.com. And his last name is spelled s h u l tz.com. So I want to thank you so much for taking the time to be on it's where I am. Thank you, Levi wholeheartedly, and I look forward to seeing how your campaign unfolds. This is Dr. g. from great minds counseling and Wellness Center on it's where I am 91.5 FM K you envy until next time

Transcribed by https://otter.ai