“[R]enters and lower-income voters are worried about being locked out of home ownership forever.” – Las Vegas Review-Journal
A recent survey found that under Joe Lombardo, more than 80% of Nevadans believe housing in Nevada is unaffordable. This comes as the median price to buy a home in Reno exceeded $600,000 in April and median home sale prices in Clark County reached $485,000 in January, the highest ever recorded. 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. Now, skyrocketing housing costs can be directly linked to Lombardo’s vetoes.
Lombardo vetoed numerous additional bills that would have uplifted Nevada families and lowered the cost of housing across the state. Now, Lombardo’s vetoes are directly linked to housing costs skyrocketing:
- Lombardo vetoed AB218 and SB78 from the 2023 legislative session, which would have protected renters from such hidden and predatory fees from landlords.
- A report from the Las Vegas Review Journal found that real estate giant Greystar collected more than $100 million in “hidden fees” from tenants in Nevada and other states.
- Lombardo vetoed AB340 which would have brought Nevada in line with the rest of the nation by requiring landlords, rather than tenants, to be the first to file in court in summary eviction proceedings.
- Now, Clark County has one of the highest eviction rates in the country. 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.
- In 2023, Lombardo vetoed SB395 which would have limited large corporations and corporate investors from buying up large amounts of housing stock and targeting starter homes and low-income communities where they can easily outbid working-class Nevadans and obtain large quantities of properties.
- Now, new reporting from the Las Vegas Review-Journal found that a New York hedge fund is the largest homeowners in Clark County, contributing to hardworking families being priced out of home ownership.
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