Carson City, NV March 01, 2022
The Nevada
Housing Division will shepherd a key initiative of the state’s planned
investment of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. The Home Means
Nevada initiative, announced by Governor Sisolak during last week’s State of
the State address, will invest $500 million to lower the cost of housing, help seniors
make repairs and accessibility retrofits to stay in their homes, and boost
housing availability.
The initiative
proposes four categories of funds that will be administered by the division
pending the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee review and approval. To
maximize the impact and benefit more than 13,000 households throughout Nevada,
the division will leverage these direct investments with other forms of available
debt financing programs.
Multi-family
Development - $300 million
As a stand-alone
funding source, this investment could produce up to 1,000 new units for
families and seniors earning less than 60% of Area Median Income (AMI). The
funding would allow targeting of 10-20% of the units for those earning less 30,
40 or 50% of AMI.
Leveraged with
other debt funding, up to 1,700 new units could be developed with this
investment.
Multi-family
Preservation - $130 million
As a stand-alone
funding source, this investment could rehabilitate and preserve over 3,000
units for families and seniors earning less than 60% of Area Median Income
(AMI). This would keep the units affordable for an additional 30-years going
forward.
If the funding can
be leveraged with other debt funding, these funds could preserve up to nearly
4,000 units.
Land Acquisition
- $40 million
Given the current
average cost per acre and number of acres in the typical affordable housing
development, this funding could be used to secure nearly 100 acres of land to
create 700-800 units of affordable housing. This could be leveraged with
Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to help offset the current increase in
interest rates and construction costs.
Home Ownership: New
Development/Rehabilitation - $30 million
An incentive
program to drop the cost of new homes from $500,000 to $350,000, land purchase
or other mechanism, such as down payment assistance, would develop and make
obtainable up to 200 new single-family homes.
A portion of the
funds would be earmarked for rehabilitation, including home accessibility
improvements of existing single-family owned homes for up to 7,000 homeowners. This
would enable Nevada’s seniors to age in place and could also provide
substantial energy saving and safety improvements for most of the recipients.
In
addition to these investments, rental assistance is still available through
current CHAP rental assistance programs which can be found at https://housing.nv.gov/. Mortgage Assistance is available through the Nevada Homeowner
Assistance Fund at https://nahac.org/.
About the Nevada Housing Division
The Nevada Housing Division, a division of the Department of
Business and Industry, was created by the Nevada Legislature in 1975, with a
mission to provide affordable housing opportunities and improve the quality of
life for Nevada residents. They connect Nevadans with homes by providing
financing to developers to build affordable housing, innovative mortgage
solutions and down payment assistance programs and making homes more energy
efficient, thereby lowering utility expenses. To learn more, visit http://housing.nv.gov.
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