Housing
Center offering legal information on eviction, civil matters sees high volume of clients
Attorneys with the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada liken the Civil Law Self-Help Center to a legal emergency room. People find themselves at the center when they become overwhelmed by an often confusing, cumbersome legal system and need help finding a resolution. That’s exactly what Rudy and Liza, who are married, needed when they […]
Housing justice advocates weigh in on White House plan to bolster tenant protections
Amid rising rents nationally and people still struggling to maintain housing, the White House released a series of non-binding guidelines Wednesday in an effort to connect renters to affordable housing and direct agencies to bolster tenant protections. In the “Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights,” the Biden-Harris Administration outlined efforts to address fair leasing, […]
To buy or to rent? Depends where you are, says analyst
Renting a three-bedroom home is more affordable than owning a comparably sized median-priced home in 95% (210 out of 222) of the largest U.S. counties, which were included in a study by ATTOM, a real estate data analyst. Just a year ago, it was more affordable to own than to rent in 60% of the […]
Behavioral health board backs bump in property transfer tax to fund affordable housing
Proposed state legislation backed by the Clark Regional Behavioral Health Board would increase the real property transfer tax by 20 cents for every $500 of value to build affordable housing for Nevadans with mental health conditions, disabilities, and who are lower income. Senate Bill 68, which was requested by the Senate Committee on Revenue and […]
Legal Aid urges lawmakers to reconsider previously declined eviction bills, tenant protections
Lawmakers failed to pass several bills during the 2021 session that would have offered modest tenant protections against a Nevada eviction system that has been characterized by critics as one of the most tenant-hostile in the nation. Ahead of what they are seeing as an emerging eviction crisis, attorneys with the Legal Aid Center of […]
End of rental assistance program prompts fears evictions will spike
To prevent a tsunami of evictions in the first two years of the pandemic, policymakers set up a safety net that included eviction moratoria, an expanded rental assistance program and passing legislation to postpone court proceedings while rental assistance applications were processed. As a result, the much-feared wide scale eviction crisis was mostly held at […]
Equity-rich Americans tap homes for cash as debt spikes
Homeowners in the U.S. are sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity on average, and are putting it to work, in some cases to pay for necessities. “Rates have gone up, so if you just want to get some cash out, it’s worth just getting an equity loan,” says Brian Almero of Highland […]
240 unhoused individuals died in Southern Nevada last year
While attending last month’s vigil in Southern Nevada remembering unhoused people who died in 2022, Clark County Human Services Administrator Tim Burch took note of many of the stories circling in the background. An estimated 240 unhoused people died in Southern Nevada between Nov. 1 2021 and Oct. 31, 2022, which was around the same […]
Southern Nevada has limited options to house domestic violence survivors
Sixteen. In a range from one to 20 on a lethality scale, an assessment that SafeNest does with those experiencing domestic violence who are looking to leave an abusive partner, you would need to score a 16 in order to secure a bed and a safe place to stay. Assessment questions include asking if the […]
Voters embraced affordable housing initiatives. Advocates say Congress should do the same.
Voters in Colorado approved a statewide affordable housing initiative in November; while voters in nine cities across the country OK’d measures to finance the construction of affordable housing, preserve existing rental properties and support renters. But as housing costs soar, analysts and advocates say more needs to be done and argue that federal action is […]
Goynes-Brown establishes legacy and looks to write new chapter for North Las Vegas
In 2011, Pamela Goynes-Brown became the first Black woman elected to the North Las Vegas City Council, following in the footsteps of her father, Theron Goynes, who in 1981 became the first Black man elected to the public body. Goynes-Brown broke through another glass ceiling this month: becoming the city’s first Black mayor. With her […]
To end youth homelessness, groups say ‘we have no choice but to make policy changes’
Tayvon Jenkins was 12 years old when he and his family began experiencing homelessness on and off. The now 26-year-old Jenkins explained during the annual Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) summit Nov. 17 that he thought his situation was typical. “I thought all my friends were always hungry, like me,” he said. “I thought […]