Gov. Joe Lombardo called on industry leaders’ support in getting his housing bill through the Nevada Legislature one day before its scheduled first public airing in front of lawmakers.
Arguing that a supply issue is behind the challenge of affordable housing for Nevada residents, the Republican governor, home builders and tradesmen introduced key elements of Assembly Bill 540 during a Tuesday press conference at Heirloom at Pebble, a 55-plus, income-restricted apartment complex Ovation Development plans to open next month in Las Vegas.
Steve Aichroth, administrator of the Nevada Housing Division, said the agency has seen firsthand the challenges facing affordable housing development.
“The housing division occupies the space where developers, absent financial assistance, cannot — literally cannot — develop because the deals don’t pencil,” Aichroth said. “When the deals don’t pencil, stuff like this just does not get built.”
Proponents of AB 540 contend the bill would make housing more affordable for the “missing middle,” households who can’t afford to buy a home but don’t qualify for affordable housing units. The bill proposes allocating $250 million in state funds for “attainable housing” projects, expanding the definitions of affordable housing to allow it to benefit people with up to 150 percent of area median income, reducing prevailing wage requirements to preferences and expediting processing for attainable housing developments, among other policy proposals.
“These essential workers are education, public safety and healthcare leaders in our community, and they deserve access to affordable and attainable homes in the very neighborhoods they serve,” Lombardo said.
Jess Molasky, chief operating officer of Ovation Development and Management Group, said the governor’s staff spoke to the general contractor and apartment management company and others in the industry to develop their proposal.
“Unlike deeply subsidized housing, market-rate apartments are scalable, sustainable and flexible. They don’t require years of layered financing or depend on limited public subsidies. They can get built and fast,” Molasky said, adding the bill’s Attainable Housing Account could help restart projects that have stalled because of rising interest rates and construction costs.
Lombardo also said he’s working with the federal government to establish what federally owned land could be released for more development. He said he expects to have a memorandum of understanding by May 1 that will allow the Bureau of Land Management to identify that available land.
Assembly Democrats highlighted their own housing proposals in a press conference Thursday, including bills reforming summary eviction, limiting rent increases for seniors and Social Security users, setting transparency requirements in rental agreements and others.
At the press conference, Lombardo said he continues to “hold the line” against policies like rent control and other bills with the same language as ones that were vetoed in 2023.
He also said that “out of state investors” — an issue he mentioned in his State of the State address in January – had to be addressed through other legislation. Lombardo said he was aware of some bills that could address that. Senate Bill 391, sponsored by Dina Neal, would limit the number of housing units a business could purchase in a year to 100.
“Housing is one of the most critically important issues to Nevadans right now,” Speaker Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, said in a statement Tuesday. “I look forward to learning more about the long-awaited Governor’s housing proposals tomorrow evening and continuing to collaborate on all things housing with both the Senate Majority Leader and the Governor, including working to ensure that those who are currently housed aren’t abruptly and unfairly evicted.”
AB 540 will have its first hearing at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the chamber’s Commerce and Labor Committee.
Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.
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.
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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.
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