LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Harris-Walz campaign revealed a new policy proposal they say is aimed at helping first-time home buyers and creating more affordable housing.
Campaign officials said the federal government owns around 80% of the land in Nevada. At a press conference on Friday in Las Vegas, they offered what they say is a solution to fixing the housing crisis
“Everyone says Nevada is about 80 percent federal land, that’s absolutely right,” Zach Conine, Nevada Treasurer, said. “But if you build a housing development two hours outside of Ely, that housing development will be neither affordable, attainable, or easy to get to. So, we have to talk about the land that actually makes sense.”
Conine spoke on behalf of the Harris-Walz campaign. President Biden announced a plan in July to “repurpose federal land to build more affordable homes, including thousands of new homes in Nevada.”
“Housing developers throughout the state are poised to add to Nevada’s housing inventory,” said Joe Lombardo. “We need a streamlined approach to the disposal of federal lands so they can get to work.”
The Trump-Vance campaign responded to Biden and Harris’s efforts to build new affordable housing.
“Ultimately, it’s important to remember that it is Kamala Harris that has housing so unaffordable in this country and across the country,” Tommy Pigott, RNC Strategic Communications Director, told 8 News Now on Friday.
Officials say Harris’s new proposal aims to tax incentives that would add three million new homes in four years, also looking to create a $40 billion housing innovation fund.
“Vice President Harris is saying we know that the local communities are going to have the best ideas. We want to make sure you have the resources, whether its dollars or flexibility, in order to be able to do it,” Conine said.
“They’ve made promises before about making housing affordable,” Pigott said. “What they’ve delivered while they’ve been in office is unaffordable housing and an American dream that’s further out of reach.”
Harris also proposed a down payment assistance of $25,000 for first-time home buyers.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group, estimated that Harris’s new plan would add $1.7 trillion to national deficits over a decade, to which Conine said Harris’s plans would put three million more families into housing.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KLAS.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.
Texas needs at least $174 billion to avoid water crisis, state says
Multiple earthquakes detected near Kanosh
Wrong-way driver stopped on I-89, charged with DUI
Parachutist Slams into Jumbotron at Virginia Tech Spring Game
US animal rights activists clash with police over Wisconsin dog breeder
The 2026 WVU Tommy Nickolich Award Goes to a Parkersburg Native
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon won’t seek a third term. He won’t rule out running for other offices, either
1 Cryptocurrency to Buy While It’s Under $80,000
