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NEVADA VIEWS: Single-family rentals are a bridge to opportunity, not a barrier

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NEVADA VIEWS: Single-family rentals are a bridge to opportunity, not a barrier


Housing affordability has become one of the most pressing economic challenges facing families across Las Vegas and Nevada. As prices and borrowing costs remain elevated, the debate over why housing feels increasingly out of reach has intensified. In the search for answers, single-family home investors are often singled out as a convenient explanation. But that framing oversimplifies a far more structural problem and risks distracting from the real drivers of affordability.

For many Nevadans, the desire to live in a single-family home hasn’t changed. What has changed is access. Higher interest rates, elevated home prices and limited inventory have reshaped the housing landscape, making traditional ownership more difficult for households at various stages of life. In that environment, single-family rentals have expanded to meet demand — not as a replacement for ownership, but as one of several ways families secure stable housing in constrained markets.

Investor participation in housing is frequently portrayed in binary terms: good or bad. The data, however, is more nuanced.

A recent analysis from the UNLV’s Lied Center for Real Estate documents that investors have represented roughly 1 in 5 home purchases in the Las Vegas area over the past 15 years, with activity peaking in the post-COVID period before easing more recently. Importantly, the study does not assign value judgments. It simply reports a trade-off: Elevated investor participation contributes to greater availability of single-family rental homes while also tightening supply for prospective owner-occupants.

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That distinction matters, particularly when data is used to inform public policy. Much of the investor data cited in public discourse relies on standardized national datasets that are often sourced from firms such as Redfin and that classify buyers based on ownership structures such as LLCs or trusts. These classifications are necessary for consistency and privacy, but they inherently limit visibility into who is behind a purchase and how a home is ultimately used. This does not make the data inaccurate. But it does not tell the full story, and caution is warranted when drawing policy conclusions from ownership labels alone.

What can be measured clearly, and consistently, is housing supply and housing prices. On those metrics, the evidence is decisive. A 2025 Lied Center study shows Southern Nevada has experienced nearly 15 years of chronic underbuilding. Since 2010, residential construction in the Las Vegas area has declined by more than 60 percent compared with historical norms, even as population growth continued. Had construction merely kept pace with prior trends, the region would have tens of thousands more homes today.

National research reaches the same conclusion. Studies from the National Bureau of Economic Research consistently find that prolonged underbuilding and restrictive land-use policies are primary drivers of rising home prices. Nevada’s affordability challenges are not unique, but the constraints shaping them are especially pronounced.

Nowhere is that clearer than land availability. Roughly 80 percent of Nevada’s land is controlled by the federal government, with much of Southern Nevada controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. This structure limits where housing can be built, extends development timelines and increases land costs long before a home is ever constructed. Those costs ripple through the market, affecting renters and buyers. Any serious conversation about affordability in Nevada must account for this reality. Issues like this are of far greater impact than the portion of investors who own housing units.

There is no single cause of today’s housing challenges, and there will be no single solution. But the direction is clear. Expanding housing options requires addressing the barriers that constrain supply: permitting delays, zoning limitations, regulatory complexity, land access and the cumulative friction that slows housing production. Focusing narrowly on who owns homes, rather than how many homes exist, risks missing the larger picture.

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Single-family rentals and homeownership are not opposing forces. They are interconnected outcomes of a housing system shaped by policy choices, market conditions and long-term supply decisions. If Nevada wants a more affordable, resilient housing market, the focus must remain on increasing supply and removing the obstacles that prevent it. We should not be focused on regulating areas of the market where data sets aren’t clear, unintended negative consequences may occur and our business-friendly environment will be harmed.

Zach WalkerLieb is a housing policy advocate, the managing partner of Willow Manor and chairman of the Board of Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas.



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Nevada designates more than 119,000 voters inactive

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Nevada designates more than 119,000 voters inactive


CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO) – The State of Nevada says it has designated more than 119,000 voters as inactive ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar says that in the spring of this year, counties updated 14,164 voter records, designated 119,533 voters as inactive and canceled the voter registrations of 7,583 people.

This is in addition to 2025 voter roll maintenance efforts that registered more than 138,000 voters inactive and canceled nearly 177,000 voter registrations.

“State and local election officials are working hard to prepare voters for the upcoming June Primary, and keeping Nevada’s voter rolls up to date is a critical part of that process. County election officials have dedicated significant resources to make sure Nevada’s voter registration records are accurate, so that all eligible Nevadans – and only eligible Nevadans – can cast a ballot,” said Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar. “Mail ballots are being sent to active, registered voters across the state now. Voters can support their local officials’ work by checking and updating their registration information on VOTE.NV.gov.”

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Copyright 2026 KOLO. All rights reserved.



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Arbor View beats rival Centennial for 5A boys volleyball state title

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Arbor View beats rival Centennial for 5A boys volleyball state title


The Arbor View boys volleyball team has embodied the mindset that it would take the efforts of all 16 players to win the school its first boys volleyball title.

It proved to be the case on Wednesday night against rival Centennial in the Class 5A state championship match, and the Aggies’ efforts all season showed up in the biggest game of the season.

No. 3-seeded Arbor View claimed its first boys volleyball title with a 25-20, 25-27, 25-19, 25-19 victory over top-seeded Centennial at Sunrise Mountain.

“It feels amazing. The boys have worked hard, I don’t even know if I could put it into words,” Arbor View coach Nicole Adarme said. “Our big goal was to stay calm and collected the entire time. I just wanted to reflect that for them.”

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Arbor View (28-13-1) let its emotions out after the final point on an Owen Wenger kill. The Aggies huddled and jumped for joy, helped carry injured teammate Gunnar Robinson off the bench, and eventually moved the celebration into the stands with a sea of red from the Arbor View student section.

“It feels absolutely great,” junior middle blocker/outside hitter Risden Miller said. “We trust each other so much. We’re best friends in and out of volleyball, and that really helps us on the court with just competing as a team.”

Even though the two team’s previous meeting on April 14 was a three-set win in league play by Centennial (32-6), Adarme said she knew the fourth meeting of the season for the two northwest rivals wasn’t going to be a sweep on either side.

Arbor View won a back-and-forth first set on a kill from Miller. Then it looked like the Aggies were going to win a close second set, but Centennial got a point for Arbor View being out of rotation, and the Bulldogs won four of the last five points to even the match score to one set apiece.

“That’s the traditional thing (when we play) Centennial (to play long matches), so for us, we just treated it like another set,” Adarme said. “We knew they were going to fight, so how do we respond to that? Our constant conversation was responding to the negative and moving forward in a positive direction.”

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Arbor View scored six straight points in the third set to take a 20-15 lead, and the Aggies never let up to get to the fourth set with a chance to win the title. The Aggies took advantage of several Centennial errors to take the lead in the third set on their way to the title.

“We took three deep breaths and reset and recollected ourselves as a team,” Miller said of closing out the final two sets. “That’s just completely huge for rebounding from a lost set.

“For me, personally, just looking at all my best friends on the court, that truly calms me down and I know it calms them down as well.”

Miller recorded 18 kills and Wenger was key at the net with eight kills and eight blocks. The Aggies also got contributions from Graham Blanchard, Kenyon Wickliffe and Robinson before he went down with a lower left leg injury in the fourth set.

Lincoln Larson led Centennial with 19 kills. It’s the first boys volleyball state title for Arbor View and first appearance in the title game after the program reached the state semifinals four previous times.

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“We can’t (win) with six, we have to do it with all 16,” Adarme said. “We’ve been training all of them to be ready for big moments and it was an amazing moment for Cooper (Ball, coming in for an injured Robinson) to be able to come in for us.

“We just had to know we couldn’t be outside of ourselves. Where we fell short in the past was trying to be more instead of focusing on what our role is and what our job is.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.



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Las Vegas motorcyclist dies after crash on 215 flyover ramp

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Las Vegas motorcyclist dies after crash on 215 flyover ramp


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — An 81-year-old man died after his motorcycle crashed on an eastbound 215 flyover ramp Saturday evening, Nevada State Police say.

The Nevada Highway Patrol responded to the crash at approximately 5:16 p.m. on the eastbound 215 to I-11 northbound flyover on-ramp in Clark County.

According to NHP, a black 2018 Triumph Bonneville T120 motorcycle was traveling eastbound on the flyover ramp in the number one travel lane.

The rider failed to negotiate a curve and traveled right, entering the shoulder and striking a concrete traffic barrier. The motorcycle overturned and the rider was ejected.

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William Keith Kolb was transported from the scene to a local area hospital in critical condition and later died that evening from injuries sustained in the crash, police say.

An investigation into the crash is ongoing.

The Nevada State Police Highway Patrol Southern Command has investigated 26 fatal crashes resulting in 29 fatalities so far this year.

Copyright 2026 KVVU. All rights reserved.



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