Government and Politics
July 16, 2024
On July 16, 2024, President Joe Biden announced a comprehensive set of initiatives to lower housing costs for Nevadans by making renting more affordable. These measures will impact Nevadans by capping rent increases, freeing public land for affordable housing developments, and revitalizing distressed neighborhoods around southern Nevada. This is the second visit to Nevada where the President has made Las Vegas the stage to announce major initiatives for affordable housing. In March, President Biden and Democrats’ American Rescue Plan provided $1 billion for Nevada alone to boost affordable housing, lower housing costs, and keep homeowners and renters in their homes.
Last legislative session, Democrats passed bills that would have lowered the cost of housing, but unfortunately for Nevada families, those bills were among Joe Lombardo’s record-breaking 75 vetoes.
President Biden is enacting commonsense policies to fix the housing crisis and ensure that every hardworking Nevada family has access to affordable, secure housing:
- The Biden-Harris administration has reduced mortgage insurance premiums by $800 per year for hundreds of thousands of first-time homebuyers, expanded rental assistance to 100,000 additional households, and overseen the construction of tens of thousands affordable housing units.
- In Nevada alone, the President’s American Rescue Plan provided$1 billiontoboost affordable housing, lower housing costs, and keep homeowners and renters in their homes.
- President Biden is now calling on Congress to pass the most consequential housing plan in over half a century, which would lower costs by providing a tax credit for first-time homebuyers, build and renovate more than two million homes, and crack down on corporations that rip off Nevadans, and provide rental assistance for hundreds of thousands of more families.
- Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, passed by Congressional Democrats, secured $500 million for former Governor Sisolak’s “Home Means Nevada” initiative.
- Senator Jacky Rosen has introduced legislation to help lower housing costs for Nevadans by cracking down on price gouging by corporate investors buying up housing stock and driving up home prices. Rosen also introduced a public lands bill to help expand economic development and affordable housing opportunities in Washoe County, and she helped introduce legislation to create a tax credit and provide payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. Earlier this year, Rosen called on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to reverse the Fed’s recent interest rate hikes, which have driven mortgage rates to 20-year highs.
- Congresswoman Susie Lee announced a $2 million federalinvestmentto our community for housing and food pantry upgrades to help low-income families across Vegas.
“President Biden and Democrats are taking real action to increase access to affordable housing and keep Nevada families in their homes,” said Nevada State Democratic Party Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno. “While Republicans continue to obstruct progress on affordable housing, the actions announced today by President Biden are crucial steps toward making housing more attainable and ensuring families are not burdened by skyrocketing rent.”