LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The state shared more details on Tuesday of what Nevadans can expect from the $500 million "Home Means Nevada" housing initiative announced by Gov. Steve Sisolak in his State of the State address last week.
The Nevada Housing Division will use federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan to fund the initiative, officials say. The goal is to lower the cost of housing, help seniors make repairs and accessibility retrofits to stay in their homes and boost housing availability.
You can watch the full address here and the Republican response here.
Below is a breakdown provided by the governor's office:
Four categories of funds
The initiative proposes four categories of funds that will be administered by the division pending the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee approval.
To maximize the impact and benefit more than 13,000 households throughout Nevada, the division will leverage these direct investments with other forms of available debt financing programs.
1. Multi-family Development - $300 million
- As a stand-alone funding source, this investment could produce up to 1,000 new units for families and seniors earning less than 60% of Area Median Income (AMI). The funding would allow targeting of 10-20% of the units for those earning less than 30, 40 or 50% of AMI.
- Leveraged with other debt funding, up to 1,700 new units could be developed with this investment.
2. Multi-family Preservation - $130 million
- As a stand-alone funding source, this investment could rehabilitate and preserve over 3,000 units for families and seniors earning less than 60% of Area Median Income (AMI). This would keep the units affordable for an additional 30-years going forward.
- If the funding can be leveraged with other debt funding, these funds could preserve up to nearly 4,000 units.
3. Land Acquisition - $40 million
- Given the current average cost per acre and the number of acres in the typical affordable housing development, this funding could be used to secure nearly 100 acres of land to create 700-800 units of affordable housing.
- This could be leveraged with Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to help offset the current increase in interest rates and construction costs.
4. Home Ownership: New Development/Rehabilitation - $30 million
- An incentive program to drop the cost of new homes from $500,000 to $350,000, land purchase or other mechanisms, such as down payment assistance, would develop and make obtainable up to 200 new single-family homes.
- A portion of the funds would be earmarked for rehabilitation, including home accessibility improvements of existing single-family owned homes for up to 7,000 homeowners. This would enable Nevada’s seniors to age in place and could also provide substantial energy savings and safety improvements for most of the recipients.
Additional assistance is still available
- In addition to these investments, rental assistance is still available through current rental assistance programs which can be found at housing.nv.gov. Mortgage assistance is available through the Nevada Homeowner Assistance Fund at nahac.org
Las Vegas valley housing prices on the rise
Home prices have been on the rise, which is making it tough for many to buy a house in Southern Nevada.
Rents have also been on the rise, too. In fact, the Las Vegas rental market has gone crazy in recent months and it's not just the shortage of available rentals, but the money you have to cough up before you even sign a lease.
We have a look at the current housing market from all angles on ktnv.com/Housing.
