By Lizzie Ramirez — When Emma Goabel moved into her first apartment, her washer, dryer, dishwasher and back door lock were all broken.
It took a month for the landlord to fix the appliances and replace the locks.
“We couldn’t lock our door at night,” said Goabel, 20. “We just locked our bedroom doors at night [and] pray[ed] for the best. They said it wasn’t that big of an issue.”
Many renters face similar issues. But finding a new place with a better landlord isn’t easy in Nevada’s pricey rental market.
Advertisement
A recent report from the Guinn Center for Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan policy research center, shows that housing unaffordability in Nevada has reached an all-time high. More than half of Nevada renters are considered cost burdened, defined as spending at least 35 percent of their gross monthly income on housing. Statewide rental costs started increasing dramatically relative to income starting in 2020.
This year, the Legislature is responding to the housing crisis by bringing new bills back for consideration, and reviving some of the concepts Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed last session. The Republican governor himself has used one of his five main policy bills to help address the housing issues.
Common themes this session include renter protections, easing construction burdens for new housing and helping first-time homebuyers.
“I do hope to be able to [own a house], but I know the ages at which people are able to buy houses, it’s getting older and older,” Goabel said. “Maybe by the time I’m 40 or 50, I want to have a house.”
Capping rent hikes
Advertisement
Several bills aimed at shielding renters from price hikes have drawn pushback, including AB280, which would cap rent increases at 5 percent annually for tenants who are 62 and older, or who rely on Social Security payments, for a year and a half starting in July. The bill was passed out of committee in late March.
The measure sponsored by Assm. Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas) is identical to a bill she proposed in 2023 that passed with some bipartisan support but was vetoed by Lombardo.
“I brought back the same bill. It’s a very simple bill,” Jauregui told The Nevada Independent in an interview. “It is a pilot program to stabilize rent and give those people who need the most assistance, the assistance right now.”
Opponents, including Realtors and landlords, argue that any form of rent control will hurt Nevada’s housing market and have made the policy the focus of a major ad campaign. Instead, they say the Legislature should focus on building more housing units to increase supply and satisfy demand.
The Nevada Realtors supported the idea of rent caps for seniors last legislative session, but now oppose the bill.
Advertisement
“It’s no longer a pandemic … we need to let the market figure itself out,” Azim Jessa, an executive board member for the Realtors, said in an interview.
Jessa said he believes the housing market is already fixing itself — rental rates are down 1.4 percent in Southern Nevada and down 9.5 percent in Northern Nevada from July 2023 to December 2024.
But a former employee of Adult Protective Services (APS), who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions, believes AB280 would greatly help the senior population, especially those with disabilities. They cited a client in Fallon who was unable to get their landlord to fix their home and was evicted.
“It was in complete disarray. There were holes in the roof, holes in the walls, there was a mice infestation. There were mushrooms growing in the walls,” they told The Nevada Independent.
The former employee said the landlord didn’t do anything about the habitability issues and even increased the rent. The client’s husband was bed-bound, causing the client to refuse to leave the home once APS got involved. A week later, the client was hospitalized, and then diagnosed with cancer. The APS employee said the client’s case was still open when they left and that they hope AB280 passes this session “our duty [is to] to protect our elderly, our disabled, as a community.”
Advertisement
The Northern Nevada Central Labor Council (NNCLC), a union whose members include laborers in the construction industry, is also lobbying for the bill on behalf of retirees.
“We’re not doing a good enough job of taking care of our older community and at a national level, we’re actively working to make sure that they’re even worse off personally,” NNCLC President Ross Kinson said.
Housing for rent in Reno on April 7, 2025. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)
Tightening renter protections
Similarly, proponents say another bill, AB223, would create safer and healthier living conditions by giving Nevada renters more recourse when a home is in disrepair. The bill was passed out of committee in late March.
This bill would remove vague terms such as “adequately” and “materially” from state law dealing with a landlord’s responsibilities when a home is in disrepair. Sponsor Assm. Venicia Considine (D-Las Vegas) said it would close loopholes that allow unsafe conditions to persist.
Advertisement
Under the proposal, tenants could also reduce or withhold rent if their home doesn’t comply with habitability laws. The bill also empowers tenants to file a complaint in court of unhealthy living conditions not being fixed by the landlord, and the tenant could use that complaint as a defense against eviction.
AB223 received more than 50 opposition letters, largely through a letter-writing campaign coordinated by the Nevada State Apartment Association. Opponents argued there already is a fair balance between tenants and landlords; one critic wrote that Considine is trying to “impress the more extreme-left wing” — an assertion she rebuked.
“Tenants that are living with no air conditioning, with doors that don’t lock, they’re not left-wing people,” Considine told The Nevada Independent. “They’re working class people that are trying to live in a safe environment.”
Building more housing
Lawmakers are also focused on speeding up delays in housing development, which stem from building slowdowns during the 2008 Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the rising costs of housing materials, zoning regulations, permitting processes and widespread federal land ownership.
Advertisement
Many bills this session are focused around building more housing in nontraditional areas as a solution until more federal land opens up in Nevada.
Another Jauregui measure, AB241, would expedite approval of multifamily homes to be built on commercial properties. The bill was passed out of committee in early April.
Supporters say the measure will help create more walkable, all-encompassing communities, similar to Northern Nevada’s Reno Experience District (RED), which has faced criticism for being unaffordable for the average renter in the city.
Though NNCLC’s Kinson acknowledged the bill would accelerate housing development, he said he was worried that the bill failed to include project labor agreement requirements or other labor standards.
“We should be building local. We should be buying local. We should be staying local because that helps our local communities continue to grow,” Kinson said.
Advertisement
Opening up more federal land
Another popular approach to the housing shortage is urging the federal government to release federally owned land, which accounts for 85 percent of land in the Silver State. Lombardo advocated for this during his State of the State address.
Lawmakers in both parties support the idea. Jauregui introduced AJR10, urging the federal government to release land for housing.
However, the Guinn Center warns that it could take years for Congress to release the land, and construction costs will continue to rise in the meantime.
Kinson said continuing to build outward would create additional problems and instead urged lawmakers to support concepts such as a light rail system. AB256, a bill sponsored by Assm. Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno), would start the process of creating a regional train system in Nevada. The bill was passed out of committee in late March.
Advertisement
“Good cities become great cities because they invest in their infrastructure [and] public transit,” Kinson said.
Incentivizing more projects
Lombardo also introduced his own housing bill, AB540, which would put forward $250 million in state money to support housing projects. This bill also creates a new tier of affordable housing eligibility, known as attainable housing, for homeowners earning between 120 percent and 150 percent of an area’s median household income. The bill has yet to pass out of committee.
When developers undertake affordable and attainable housing, they can tap into certain government incentives and expedited processes for their projects. However, the bill exempts attainable housing developed from the Nevada State Infrastructure Bank funding from prevailing wage requirements — which is a sort of minimum wage for construction workers based on the local standard for that kind of work.
Wendy Colborne, chief of staff for the Building & Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada, called that problematic.
Advertisement
“You actually make the problem worse because you’re not paying people enough to live in the very homes that they’re building,” Colborne said.
Tina Frias, CEO of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, said during the AB540 hearing last week that prevailing wage requirements would make it “extremely difficult” to construct attainable housing.
Frias contends higher labor costs would increase home prices beyond what low- and middle-income families could afford, pointing to a University of California, Berkeley study that found prevailing wage increases residential construction costs by $94,000 per unit.
Nevada Realtors are also on board with Lombardo’s bill, arguing that more supply is key to resolving the state’s housing crisis
“It doesn’t matter how much people earn, because there’s not going to be availability or homes for them to be able to buy,” Jessa told The Nevada Independent. “We are really trying to help the working folks in Nevada … We want the people who work in Nevada to be able to buy a home in Nevada, and this is a bill that will get us there.”
Advertisement
Tackling high interest rates
With rising interest rates in the last few years further driving up the cost of buying a home, Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas) is hoping to minimize those burdens through his bill SB193, which would require the state’s housing division to establish a pilot program to help eligible families buy down the interest rate on mortgage loans. The bill passed out of committee in early March.
To participate, families must meet criteria such as being first-time homebuyers, having a household income not exceeding 160 percent of the county’s median income, and qualifying under certain underwriting standards.
The bill is aimed at helping buyers such as Olivia Claypool, a self-employed cosmetologist who recently bought her first home. New to the process, Claypool was confused about what interest rates were and what role they played when she was signing her mortgage contract.
Claypool was offered two options — a conventional loan or an unconventional loan. She learned through the experience that if she took out the unconventional loan, her interest rate would have increased by 2 percent, which equates to paying an extra $100,000 over the course of Claypool paying off her mortgage.
Advertisement
Doñate said his bill will help families who make too much to be eligible for affordable housing, but are still struggling to afford groceries and additional bills they may have.
If approved, eligible Nevadans would be given between $10,000 and $15,000 to buy down their interest rate.
It’s estimated homeowners would save about $300 per month, and between $50,000 to $100,000 over the course of a 30-year loan, he said.
“People want to buy a home. They just don’t feel like the economy allows them to, and that’s what we’re trying to do right now,” Doñate said.
— Reporter Tabitha Mueller contributed to this article.This story is used with permission of The Nevada Independent. Go here for updates to this and other Nevada Independent stories.
RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – Country music artist Caleb Montgomery will be performing at the State Fair of Nevada.
Montogomery will be headlining the Opening Night Concert on June 11 at the Nevada State Fairgrounds in Reno.
“We are excited to welcome families and communities from across Nevada back to the official State Fair of Nevada,” said Nevada Department of Agriculture Director J.J. Goicoechea. “After 16 years, a Nevada tradition is finally returning, something many families have waited years to experience again.”
The fair will run from June 11 to June 13, and opening day tickets will be $15 for adults and $12 for kids aged 12 and younger.
Advertisement
Other featured programming includes:
Nevada Junior Livestock Show and Sale
University of Nevada, Reno Extension’s 4-H State Expo
NEVADA CITY, Calif. June 2, 2026 – Polls closed at 8:00 pm today. We will post local election results here as soon as they are released.
Advertisement
June 2, 2026 at 11:54 PM Third and final update, the next results update will be on Friday.
June 2, 2026 at 10:10 PM Second update being published now. The voter counts on the Cumulative Reports are based on the 15 Day Report of Registration and may differ from the Ballot Statistics count.
June 2, 2026 at 8:15 PM First updates
Advertisement
Advertisement
Federal contests – Nevada County results
CA Secretary of State · June 2, 2026 Primary · Unofficial
U.S. House, District 3
Advertisement
Loading…
Source: api.sos.ca.gov · Auto-refreshes every 2 min
‘
);}).join(”);
}
Advertisement
function sosFetchus_rep_district_3(manual){
if(manual)skeleton();
fetch(‘https://api.sos.ca.gov/returns/’+slug+’?_=’+Date.now())
.then(function(r){if(!r.ok)throw new Error(‘HTTP ‘+r.status);return r.json();})
.then(function(d){
if(d.raceTitle)titleEl.textContent=d.raceTitle;
metaEl.innerHTML=’‘+(d.Reporting||”)+(d.ReportingTime?’ · ‘+d.ReportingTime:”);
tsEl.textContent=”Updated “+new Date().toLocaleTimeString([],{hour:’2-digit’,minute:’2-digit’});
var cands=(d.candidates||[]).map(function(c){return{name:c.Name,party:c.Party,votes:parseInt((c.Votes||’0′).replace(/,/g,”)),pct:parseFloat(c.Percent||0),inc:c.incumbent};}).sort(function(a,b){return b.pct-a.pct;});
var top2set=new Set(cands.slice(0,2).map(function(c){return c.name;}));
var total=cands.reduce(function(s,c){return s+c.votes;},0);
CA Secretary of State · June 2, 2026 Primary · Unofficial
Insurance Commissioner
Loading…
Advertisement
Source: api.sos.ca.gov · Auto-refreshes every 2 min
‘
);}).join(”);
}
function sosFetchinsurance_commissioner(manual){
if(manual)skeleton();
fetch(‘https://api.sos.ca.gov/returns/’+slug+’?_=’+Date.now())
.then(function(r){if(!r.ok)throw new Error(‘HTTP ‘+r.status);return r.json();})
.then(function(d){
if(d.raceTitle)titleEl.textContent=d.raceTitle;
metaEl.innerHTML=’‘+(d.Reporting||”)+(d.ReportingTime?’ · ‘+d.ReportingTime:”);
tsEl.textContent=”Updated “+new Date().toLocaleTimeString([],{hour:’2-digit’,minute:’2-digit’});
Advertisement
var cands=(d.candidates||[]).map(function(c){return{name:c.Name,party:c.Party,votes:parseInt((c.Votes||’0′).replace(/,/g,”)),pct:parseFloat(c.Percent||0),inc:c.incumbent};}).sort(function(a,b){return b.pct-a.pct;});
var top2set=new Set(cands.slice(0,2).map(function(c){return c.name;}));
var total=cands.reduce(function(s,c){return s+c.votes;},0);
CA Secretary of State · June 2, 2026 Primary · Unofficial
Attorney General
Advertisement
Loading…
Source: api.sos.ca.gov · Auto-refreshes every 2 min
‘
);}).join(”);
}
Advertisement
function sosFetchattorney_general(manual){
if(manual)skeleton();
fetch(‘https://api.sos.ca.gov/returns/’+slug+’?_=’+Date.now())
.then(function(r){if(!r.ok)throw new Error(‘HTTP ‘+r.status);return r.json();})
.then(function(d){
if(d.raceTitle)titleEl.textContent=d.raceTitle;
metaEl.innerHTML=’‘+(d.Reporting||”)+(d.ReportingTime?’ · ‘+d.ReportingTime:”);
tsEl.textContent=”Updated “+new Date().toLocaleTimeString([],{hour:’2-digit’,minute:’2-digit’});
var cands=(d.candidates||[]).map(function(c){return{name:c.Name,party:c.Party,votes:parseInt((c.Votes||’0′).replace(/,/g,”)),pct:parseFloat(c.Percent||0),inc:c.incumbent};}).sort(function(a,b){return b.pct-a.pct;});
var top2set=new Set(cands.slice(0,2).map(function(c){return c.name;}));
var total=cands.reduce(function(s,c){return s+c.votes;},0);
A Carson City judge has granted the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s motion for a preliminary injunction blocking the operation of a third prediction market in the state.
First Judicial District Court Judge Jason Woodbury on Friday granted the Control Board’s motion and state officials believe a formal written order is forthcoming.
“We are very pleased with Judge Woodbury’s ruling and will continue to vigorously enforce Nevada law to safeguard gaming in our state,” Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Dreitzer said in a release issued by the board Monday.
The injunction blocks QCX LLC, doing business as New York cryptocurrency-based Polymarket US, from providing its services in Nevada.
Advertisement
The Control Board has had similar successes with preliminary injunctions against New York-based KalshiEx LLC, doing business as Kalshi, and internet-centered Coinbase.
The board has taken decisive action in recent months to halt the operations of prediction markets in the state and has successfully restricted the operation of all unlicensed prediction markets that had been known to be operating in the state.
The board started its efforts in March 2025 against prediction markets, which are not licensed by the state but have written event contracts on sports and election outcomes and entertainment propositions.
Regulators consider the offering of sports-event contracts, along with certain other event contracts, to constitute wagering activity under Nevada law. They’ve said that they could operate in the state if were licensed, a process that often takes at least a year to complete.
Prediction markets believe they are authorized to conduct business in Nevada and every other U.S. state because they are regulated by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, currently chaired by Michael Selig.
Advertisement
Because of its assertion that it has exclusive jurisdiction, it also has claimed that its oversight outweighs state gaming laws, which has resulted in pushback and lawsuits from a number of states that regulate casino gambling and sports betting.
Several states have pending litigation in place against prediction markets, but Nevada has seemingly found the silver bullet by taking their cases to state courts instead of federal courts.
Nevada’s public policy, as expressed by the Legislature, is that the gaming industry is vitally important to the economy of the state and the general welfare of the inhabitants and therefore “must be licensed, controlled, and assisted to protect the public health, safety, morals, good order, and general welfare of the inhabitants of the state.”
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.