As home prices reach record highs in Nevada, new reporting from the Las Vegas Review-Journal found that a New York hedge fund is the largest homeowner in Clark County and is targeting starter homes and low-income communities where they can easily outbid working-class Nevadans and obtain large quantities of properties, essentially pricing hardworking families out of home ownership. Last legislative session, Joe Lombardo vetoed bipartisan legislation that would have limited the amount of housing stock large corporations could buy up and nearly two years later has not offered a plan to hold corporate investors accountable and ensure that everyday folks are able to afford a home.
Under Lombardo, Nevada is facing one of the toughest housing crises in the nation with eviction rates in Las Vegas being among the highest in the country and homelessness hitting its highest peak since the Great Recession. In the past year alone there have been over 47,000 evictions in Clark County, up from 30,000 evictions in 2023 when there were an average of 70 eviction cases going through eviction court daily in the county.
Last session, while housing costs continued to grow more expensive, Lombardo vetoed multiple bills that would have lowered the cost of housing across the state and kept more Nevadans in their homes. This comes as a recent report released by the Las Vegas Review-Journal found that under Joe Lombardo, home sale prices in the Las Vegas Valley broke a record as the median price of a house sold in Southern Nevada in January was $485,000, the highest ever recorded.
Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Tai Sims:
“Under Joe Lombardo, Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation and its ongoing housing crisis is leading to skyrocketing eviction rates and homelessness. Despite this, Joe Lombardo still refuses to offer a plan that holds large corporate investors accountable and limits their ability to buy up housing stock and artificially increase costs, leaving everyday Nevadans with little to no affordable options. Now, the largest homeowner in Clark County is a New York hedge fund and the cost to buy a home is now at a record high in Nevada. Joe Lombardo had the opportunity to sign legislation that would lower rent costs, protect Nevadans from large corporate buyers, and keep more families in their homes, but he vetoed the bills. He owns Nevada’s housing crisis.”
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