According to a March report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 88% of Nevada’s extremely low-income renters—those making 30% or less of area median income—are severely cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than half of their income on rent and utilities. Those households are in desperate need of affordable housing, especially with the rising costs of gas, groceries and health care.
Unfortunately, Nevada is the worst state for that, with only 16 rental homes available for every 100 extremely low-income households that need them, according to the report. And of the 50 largest metro areas in the U.S., Las Vegas also had the “most severe” statistics for extremely low-income households, with only 13 affordable homes available for every 100 renters who need them.
To chip away at those numbers, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo worked with the Democrat-controlled Nevada Legislature to pass Assembly Bill 540, or the Nevada Housing Access and Attainability Act, last year. The bill appropriated $133 million into the newly created Nevada Attainable Housing Account, with the funds intended to spur the creation of new housing units for purchase and rent, along with additional resources like a down payment assistance program.
The legislation was notably designed to encompass a greater range of income levels by creating the definition of “attainable housing,” which includes those earning 30% or less of area median income all the way up to 150% AMI. For a four-person household in Clark County, the Department of Housing and Urban Development defines this as $28,470 to $142,350 annual income.
Signature Homes CEO Richard Plaster (left) and Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom tour a model home at Paradise Trails on March 25.
On March 25, Lombardo highlighted the first project to be partially funded through the legislation from a newly constructed bridge over the Flamingo Wash, which connects 29 new homes at the Paradise Trails subdivision to the greater community. The for-sale homes at Paradise Trails—one of seven Clark County-based projects benefiting from a $64 million disbursement Lombardo’s office announced in February—are earmarked for those earning between 80% and 150% AMI.
Tina Frias, CEO of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association and a member of Lombardo’s Nevada Attainable Housing Council, which reviewed funding recommendations, says expanding the bill’s reach to 150% AMI represents a meaningful shift.
“It will allow this program to benefit a wider range of people, including more of our middle class. That’s something that is definitely a new precedent that’s set in legislation,” Frias says.
But while the bill casts a wide net, the most pressing aspect of Nevada’s housing crisis still lies at the opposite end of the spectrum. Of the 1,566 total units funded in the bill’s first disbursement, only 61 will explicitly serve extremely low-income households, according to the Nevada Housing Division’s own award recommendation. Lombardo’s communications director Drew Galang cites two permanent supportive housing developments set aside for the lowest income tier. In Clark County, that equates to 48 rental units at the Blind Center’s Visions Park.
Galang says the bill’s strength is that it’s intentionally designed to accommodate a range of project types.
“Each project requires a unique funding mix, but the new parameters of Assembly Bill 540 allow for significantly more flexibility in securing capital,” he says.
Before touring one of the $449,940, three-bedroom homes at Paradise Trails, Lombardo plugged the public-private partnership model that made it possible. He called the project—which drew $800,503 from the Nevada Attainable Housing Account after developer Signature Homes matched those funds dollar-for-dollar, per the bill’s terms—a lifeline for a workforce that he said “is being priced out of the ability to see the proverbial American dream.”
“When we partner with the private sector, and when we stay focused on practical solutions instead of politics, we can deliver real results for Nevada families,” Lombardo said at the event last month. “That bears repeating—partnership with the private sector, which the government has traditionally not been used to. But it’s a game changer for us.”
Construction executive Xavone Charles, managing partner at the Valley-based Desert Elite Management and a member of the North Las Vegas Planning Commission, says the reality is a bit more complicated.
“Most of these projects serve households between roughly 60% to 120% [AMI], which is more in line with teachers, health care workers and other essential members of the workforce—but not necessarily low-income housing,” Charles says.
The outcome is partly a reflection of how the bill was structured, as the housing division’s application process awarded bonus points to applicants that could repay their loans within two to four years. That’s typically an easier threshold to meet for larger developers with a lot of capital, but not necessarily viable for nonprofit developers that prioritize deeply affordable options.
Charles adds that the task of adding housing in the lower AMI brackets is complicated by the fact that they don’t easily “pencil out using traditional financing.”
“[AB 540] is doing what it’s designed to do by leveraging public dollars to unlock private investment and increase housing supply. But if the goal is to address the deeper affordable housing needs, it must be paired with additional tools like tax credits, long-term subsidies and a stronger public-private partnership,” Charles says.
Galang says Lombardo is pursuing additional methods for shoring up the difference, “including working groups with advocates and industry leaders and efforts to streamline federal land transfers so that more housing can be built faster in Nevada.”
For Charles, closing this gap requires more resources than any single bill can provide.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to say whether or not the city or [AB 540] is doing enough, or the developer is being greedy, or the contractor can’t get the costs down,” he says. “In my mind, it’s probably a coalition of just targeting areas that can provide the amount of housing that we still need for those under 30% AMI, and then really, really taking a lens to it.”
While Lombardo examined a two-car garage at Paradise Trails with coffee in hand, the bridge over the Flamingo Wash stood as a symbol of progress. Still, many Nevadans remain on the other side, waiting for a bridge they can finally afford to cross.
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