LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas locals have told us they struggle to find an affordable place a live, concerns that Nevada state lawmakers have heard and are trying to address.
A series of bills discussed on Wednesday takes aim at the crisis, covering everything from transparency in rental fees to building smaller homes on existing lots.
And next week, Gov. Joe Lombardo plans to discuss details of his own housing plan at a news conference.
Here's a look at some of the bills that were on the Assembly agenda on Wednesday:
New definitions
Assembly Bill 37 would redefine income levels for people to qualify for housing. People who make 30% or less than the median household income (that was $75,103 per year, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) qualify for Tier 1 affordable housing. Tier 2 is for families that make between 30% and 60% of the median household income, workforce affordable housing covers between 60% and 80% and "attainable affordable housing" is defined as between 80% and 120%.
Small homes
Assembly Bill 131, as amended, would allow for property tax exemptions for accessory dwelling units, also called casitas or granny units, that are leased to people receiving federal housing vouchers.
Sealing eviction records
Assembly Bill 201 would allow for the sealing of eviction records if a person's landlord does not object, or if the motion to seal the records is filed one year after an eviction order is entered. (Having an eviction on one's record makes it more difficult to rent a new apartment or home.)
Summary eviction reform
Assembly Bill 283 would overhaul the current eviction process, in which a landlord gives a tenant notice he or she is being evicted, and the tenant must file in court to stop the process. Under the bill, after a landlord serves a tenant with an eviction notice, the landlord must go to court to get an eviction order. Then tenant would then have seven days after being served with an order to respond in court.
New apartment and mixed-use developments
Assembly Bill 241 would require counties and cities in Nevada to adopt ordinances that would allow for developers to build apartments or mixed-use (think ground floor retail with apartments on top) projects in commercial zones.
Transparency in rental contracts
Assembly Bill 121 would require landlords to list the entire amount of monthly rent, including any and all fees for utilities, in a rental contract. It's meant to avoid hidden or surprise fees that tenants only learn about after signing a lease. It also requires refunding application fees, credit-check fees or background check fees if the unit is rented to somebody else and those checks weren't conducted.
And more transparency
In a similar vein, Assembly Bill 280 would also require transparency in fees, including a list of all fees and their purpose, and to refund charges if the unit is rented to someone else. This bill would also impose a one-year cap on rent increases for seniors and people receiving Social Security.
More casitas
Assembly Bill 396 would require Clark and Washoe Counties, and large cities within them, to adopt ordinances allowing property owners to apply to build casitas on their land. If the local governments fail to adopt such an ordinance, casitas would be authorized by state law.
Repair of rental housing
Assembly Bill 211 would allow cities or counties to require landlords to repair rental units, and to appoint a receiver in the event the owner fails to make the necessary fixes.
Withholding rent
Assembly Bill 223 allows tenants to file complaints for relief if rental units are not maintained "in a habitable condition." Tenants can withhold rent after filing that complaint, but must place the money in an escrow account with the court. Tenants also can terminate leases without fees if the defects aren't corrected.
This is a story we went more in-depth on here
Looking ahead
Assembywoman Venicia Considine, D-Clark County, who authored two of the bills heard today, said surprise rental fees and absentee landlords are a problem for renters, who have to navigate a complex court system to find relief. The bills advanced by Democrats include penalties for bad acts on the part of landlords.
"It's putting everything on the tenant when the landlord is the other half of the contract,"Considine said. "Requiring penalties doesn't mean somebody's going to have to pay a penalty, but if they know it's there, they behave."
Considine said her focus is on housing for working-class people, who need the most help. She said the system boils down to money.
"I realize that we have three choices," she said. "We either need to pay people more so that they can afford what we already have, then we need to lower the cost of housing so people can afford it, or we need to find a ton more tax money to pay for the chasm between those first two."
Gov. Joe Lombardo is expected to have a news conference next week to outline the details of a housing bill he's pushing. An advance look shows he's calling for $250 million in state money to build affordable, workforce and attainable housing, expanding affordable housing eligibility to households earning 150% of the area median income and reimbursing developers for fees they pay to build new projects.
A controversial element of his plan is to exempt affordable housing projects from prevailing wage requirements, which mandate that most state-funded projects pay the region's prevailing wage. Paying less to workers could lower the cost of projects, but would likely be opposed by unions.
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