192 laws went into effect on July 1. One of them, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo's Nevada Housing Access and Attainability Act, was one of them.
It's looking to fast track affordable housing development and expand the number of families who qualify for it.
2 News Nevada followed Assembly Bill 540 since its inception.Â
This bill was Governor Lombardo's first he introduced in the 2025 Nevada Legislative Session. It was also his only to pass.
The bill received support across party lines to try and help Nevada get out of its housing crisis.
"So, what we found is that you have to address the entirety of the spectrum from those at risk of homelessness all the way to those, who particularly live in Washoe County, who make good incomes, who are paying $2,000 plus a month for apartment rent that can't get into a home," said Steve Aichroth, Administrator, Nevada Housing Division.
Aichroth says there was a lot of work on this act. He says they had been working on it for about a year before the Legislature started again.
One of the most notable changes as the bill moved through the session was the allotted money for the new Nevada Attainable Housing Account from the State General Fund. The legislation saw the originally proposed $200 million get dropped to about $130 million.
It will also add an additional tier to affordable housing. It's looking to help folks that earn 120 to 150 percent of the area median income.
"That really is something the division hasn't been engaged in with in the past," Aichroth said. "Most of our funding is federal. This is different. This is the largest investment in state funds into housing ever."
The Governor has said in the past that this tier is designed for those "middle mile" folks who are essential workers that make decent money but still can't afford a house.
Aichroth says that $83 million from the fund is projected to be developed through competitive grants, loans, and rebates. Then $25 million is supposed to be used for financial aid for supporting home ownership opportunities. The Administrator says another $25 million will be used for matching grant funds for jurisdictions that take initiatives to advance affordable housing.
Aichroth says there is also $50 million in bond financing that will go through the Board of Finance.
The initial focus will be set around creating the Nevada Attainable Housing Council so they can oversee the next steps of bringing more housing to the silver state.
"There are legislative appointments to that committee," Aichroth said. "So, we're working on that and creating the allocation plan. The council will ultimately have the oversight and the approval of the allocation plan as we move forward."
Aichroth says they expect to be finished with the council and plan around the Fall, then they can shift gears towards housing projects.
They will first focus on developers that just need a little bit of assistance to get a project up and running.
Then the Housing Division will start looking into developing some townhomes, duplexes and condos, but the Administrator stresses that developments often take a lot of time.
Aichroth says there will be reciprocity for contractors to build out in rural Nevada.
There were also some components from the original AB540 that made way into other legislation.
Ta\hat includes the rental eviction diversion for Clark County, the City of Reno, and the Nevada Rural Housing Authority that is in AB475.
