A new housing development, supported by funding from the landmark housing bill passed last year, aims to help an unexpected group affected by the affordability crisis: middle-income Nevadans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t ever seen anything like it,\u201d said Heidi Griffith, a mortgage loan officer who runs the homeowning-focused radio show \u201d Mortgage Matters<\/a>.\u201d \u201cThe law has created a lot of chatter.\u201d<\/p>\n Paradise Trails, a new subdivision in southeast Las Vegas, is the first development to sell homes after receiving assistance from AB540<\/a>, a bill introduced by Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) in the 2025 legislative session.<\/p>\n The law created a $133 million Nevada Attainable Housing Account (NAHA) to support development of single- and multifamily housing at prices middle-income families can afford. The bulk of that money is flowing to developers, but funding will also help local governments reimburse builders\u2019 fees and permit costs and assist Nevadans with their mortgage or rent payments.<\/p>\n The investments in AB540 are distinct in their focus on middle-income residents who earn between 80 percent and 150 percent of area median income, which for a Clark County family of three<\/a> is between $68,328 and $85,410, respectively.<\/p>\n Dedicating resources toward Nevadans making below 60 percent of average income, or around $50,000 for a family of three, is \u201ctypical of what housing finance agencies all across the country do, mainly because that\u2019s very much tied to federal funding,\u201d said Steve Aichroth, director of the Nevada Housing Division. <\/p>\n He said a wide range of federal programs \u2014 from housing vouchers to development assistance \u2014 target the lowest-income Americans, but \u201cthere\u2019s not much\u201d for Americans in slightly higher income brackets.<\/p>\n Aichroth said prices in Nevada have climbed so high even average earners can no longer afford a home. That was part of the impetus for AB540, which focuses on middle-income housing but includes millions of dollars for low-income rentals as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThe chasm between people renting and people having homeownership will just continue to get wider and wider,\u201d said Rick Barron, president of Signature Homes, the development company that built Paradise Trails.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a believer in a continuum of housing to create opportunities for people to move up and have that housing available to the next group of people that want to buy,\u201d Barron said.<\/p>\n The 29 single-family homes in Paradise Trails \u2014 which are now available for purchase \u2014 are in line with Nevada\u2019s average housing costs. Barron estimated the monthly mortgage payment for the new houses would be around $2,000, similar to Nevada\u2019s $2,000 median monthly mortgage<\/a> payment in 2024. <\/p>\n Barron said monthly payments would have been closer to $3,000 if Signature Homes had not received more than $800,000 because of AB540, which requires participating developers to match the state\u2019s contributions. The state\u2019s investment mostly goes to homeowners to reduce their down payments and closing costs, while the developers\u2019 matched funds are used primarily to buy down mortgage interest rates.<\/p>\n Griffith said she welcomes the state\u2019s focus on down payments, which Nevadans sometimes struggle with more than their monthly mortgage payments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know how much it takes to save for a down payment,\u201d Griffith said. \u201cWe\u2019re putting people into homes who didn\u2019t ordinarily have the necessary funds for the down payment or closing costs to actually purchase a property and start that process of building wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n The Paradise Trails homes are some of the nearly 6,500<\/a> new housing units that will be supported by AB540. <\/p>\n Nevada lags slightly<\/a> behind the nation in homeownership, with roughly three-fifths of residents owning homes and the remainder renting. And homeownership continues to slide as prices rise. In 2025, Las Vegas saw the lowest<\/a> number of home sales in nearly two decades, with approximately 28,500 sold. <\/p>\n Renters are also suffering. Only 14 affordable rental units are available for every 100 extremely low-income households. Low supply is causing prices<\/a> to spike. In 2020, the median monthly rent in Nevada was roughly $1,150. In 2024 it was roughly $1,700. <\/p>\n Data from the 2024 U.S. Census<\/a> indicated Nevada ranks second nationwide for its share of cost-burdened renters, meaning residents who dedicate more than 30 percent of their gross household income to rent. <\/p>\n The dearth of affordable housing made the state\u2019s Division of Housing move quickly on releasing AB540 funds.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to try to get this money out the door as fast as possible, so we can have it revolve as fast as possible, so we can make it as effective as possible,\u201d said Aichroth.<\/p>\n His office announced<\/a> in February it had awarded $86.1 million of the $133 million in the bill. Of the money that\u2019s been spent, $22 million was earmarked for homebuyers who work in the fields of health care, education, public safety or construction. Other spending so far has included $15 million on low-income housing specifically, $9 million in grants to local governments and $11 million on land purchases (all of which have been in Clark County).<\/p>\n Most of the dollars that have been distributed so far are loans, which recipients are required to repay within two years. That\u2019s given state officials hope that the money can return to the state\u2019s coffers and bring further benefits via future redeployment. <\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things we\u2019re striving for is for this to become a revolving fund,\u201d said Aichroth. \u201cWe envision the $133 million cycling through a few times.\u201d<\/p>\n A worsening crisis<\/p>\n Nevada has struggled with housing costs for years. The Legislature authorized a wide-ranging study in 2017 that determined the state\u2019s supply of affordable housing was in crisis. The pandemic accelerated the problem, triggering a homebuying frenzy that increased prices and a temporary slowdown in construction with long-lasting ripple effects.<\/p>\n The Nevada-based think tank the Guinn Center for Policy Priorities wrote in a 2025 report<\/a> that the state\u2019s housing affordability crisis was in part due to its rapidly expanding population, onerous permitting processes, construction labor shortages and the outsize share of Nevada land owned by the federal government. <\/p>\n Tina Frias, the CEO of the Southern Nevada Home Builders\u2019 Association, told The Indy in an interview that these issues slow down construction, which then drives up prices for potential buyers and makes future development harder.<\/p>\n Lombardo has repeatedly called for an end to red tape on housing construction, and AB540 aims to speed up the construction process in a variety of ways. It provided $23 million worth of loans so construction companies can purchase land for development and $25 million in grants to local governments to cover building and permitting fees. It also waived a requirement that construction companies with out-of-state licenses pay special fees to operate in rural areas. <\/p>\n Money for land acquisition is especially important for developers, said Frias, who called it \u201cour number one issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Politicians on both sides of the aisle have pushed to make it easier for Nevada to buy federal land, which accounts for about 85 percent of the state\u2019s territory. At Wednesday\u2019s event, Frias celebrated the governor\u2019s signing<\/a> of an agreement with the Bureau of Land Management last year that aims to make federal lands available more easily.<\/p>\n While the Paradise Trails development wasn\u2019t the product of purchasing federal land, it was built on a vacant lot, sometimes referred to as infill. <\/p>\n Griffith, the host of the radio show on housing, said developing unused or abandoned areas in Las Vegas could be a better approach than buying federal lands, which is costly for the state and requires residents to live on the edges of town. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a sprawling city, always have been,\u201d Griffith said. \u201cBut why are we picking up all the federal land when there\u2019s infill pieces everywhere?\u201d<\/p>\n Along with inadequate land availability, Frias said development is further delayed by regulations around permitting and building.<\/p>\n \u201cOur industry is one of the most highly regulated industries there is,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Frias said she believes complex environmental regulations could be more forgiving.<\/p>\n \u201cOur builders are really invested in sustainability, but sometimes when a code is being pushed down from the national level, on something like energy efficiency, it may not necessarily make sense here,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n No \u2018silver bullet\u2019<\/p>\n Other Nevada housing advocates say the state needs more than just greater supply. <\/p>\n \u201cBuilding isn\u2019t a silver bullet,\u201d said Ben Iness, the coordinator of the left-leaning housing nonprofit the Nevada Housing Justice Alliance. \u201cWe need to plan for the future in growth and development, but we need immediate protections or interventions \u2026 preventing needless rent hikes, rent gouging, evictions.\u201d<\/p>\n