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NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Jasmine Lopez and her three daughters have made homemade boba tea a family staple. Lopez buys the packets from Walmart — “I’m saving so much money,” she says, reaching into the cupboard — and the girls gather around to prepare it together.
It’s an affordable, experiential treat for a family of five working hard to live within their means and save for future dreams, including a home of their own in Nevada with enough space for all of them.
The Lopezes are newcomers to the state, Latinx transplants from Chicago, where high housing prices and the space demands of little girls growing older drove them to look for a home elsewhere. That’s taken the shape of a sunny four-bedroom rental in North Las Vegas that is more expensive than what they had budgeted but cheaper than a similar home in Chicago; it’s also set to jump up in price when their lease comes up for renewal a year from now.