Las Vegas affordable housing projects near completion as rents soar

An reasonably priced housing developer is near ending building on two new complexes in Las Vegas as tenants round Southern Nevada face huge lease hikes.

Nevada HAND expects to finish the entire models at Decatur Commons Household and the neighboring Decatur Commons Senior subsequent month, President and CEO Audra Hamernik stated Friday.

The 2 properties, at Decatur Boulevard and U.S. Freeway 95, close to Meadows Mall, have 480 residential models mixed and price $110 million to construct, she stated.

Tenants began shifting to the household complicated in February, she famous.

All advised, Nevada HAND is receiving 2,000 calls a day from individuals looking for reasonably priced housing, and it solely has a “handful” of vacancies each week in its 4,700-unit portfolio, she stated.

“The demand is simply outpacing our provide,” Hamernik advised the Assessment-Journal.

Nevada has lengthy confronted a necessity for extra reasonably priced housing models, a difficulty that was solely amplified over the previous yr or in order Las Vegas’ housing market accelerated. Robust demand, tight provide and fast value will increase for patrons and renters alike made it tougher and costlier to land a spot to dwell within the valley.

Statewide, there’s an estimated scarcity of 79,835 of reasonably priced and accessible rental houses for very low-income tenants, based on the Nationwide Low Revenue Housing Coalition.

Hamernik stated Nevada HAND’s buildings have traditionally been at or close to full occupancy.

“I believe the pandemic has put a highlight on reasonably priced housing, as a result of it impacted so many households, however the demand has been there for a very long time,” she stated. “This isn’t a brand new difficulty.”

Southern Nevada’s fast-rising rental charges are outpacing the nationwide common.

The everyday lease for a Las Vegas-area residence in Could was $1,847, up 18.8 p.c from a yr earlier, itemizing website Zillow reported. Nationally, the standard lease that month was $1,979, up 15.9 p.c.

In response to Hamernik, the typical lease throughout Nevada HAND’s portfolio is $733.

In the meantime, the median gross sales value of beforehand owned single-family houses — the majority of the market — was a report $482,000 in Could, up 25.2 p.c, or $97,000, from a yr earlier, based on commerce affiliation Las Vegas Realtors.

Southern Nevada, lengthy seen as a extra reasonably priced outpost, was even deemed one of many worst markets within the nation for first-time homebuyers in a current report from personal-finance website Bankrate.

U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) toured the Decatur Commons Household complicated Friday and stated Southern Nevada has “at all times wanted reasonably priced housing, like so many communities.”

“It’s a drop within the bucket,” she stated of Nevada HAND’s newly constructed models, “however we begin someplace.”

Gov. Steve Sisolak this yr launched a $500 million program to spice up reasonably priced housing within the state. The initiative, House Means Nevada, is designed to fund multifamily improvement and rehabilitation and to assist householders.

It marks the “largest single funding in reasonably priced housing” in state historical past, the governor’s workplace beforehand stated.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Observe @eli_segall on Twitter.