President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday, calling on Congress to make changes to limit corporate investors from buying up single-family homes.
This has been a hot-button topic in Nevada for years.
It's particularly an issue in southern Nevada.
Dave Johnson, a Global Broker Associate with Sotheby's International Realty, says there is an issue in northern Nevada, but it is unclear just how much of one due to a lack of data.
Currently, Nevada Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen and Nevada Democratic Representative Steve Horsford are trying to push legislation forward that does exactly that.
There's also been multiple attempts at the state level.
In the 2023 Nevada Legislative Session, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo vetoed SB395, a corporate housing bill.
In his veto letter, he said he couldn't sign the bill due to issues with a decline in tax revenue and lower construction needs.
The bill's sponsor, State Senator Dina Neal (D), Las Vegas, brought back similar legislation in last year's regular session.
It did not get the two-thirds majority on the Senate floor. Sen. Ira Hansen (R), District 14, voted no on the bill, but said he liked the policy and made the decision in favor of the party.
Fast forward to the recent special session, legislators made history when they petitioned successfully to add their own legislation to the proclamation.
Typically, the Governor is the only one who can add bills to the special session proclamation.
Neal and Hansen teamed up on the bill for the final day of the special session. It passed out of the Senate, but it did not get the two-thirds majority in the Assembly in the final hours.
Hansen sent out a statement after Trump's announcement.Â
In part, he said, "During the special session, we came very close to finalizing language that had broad support, and I, along with others, have already been working with LCB staff to ensure this legislation moves forward in our next session."
We reached out to Governor Lombardo's Office since, on the surface, it appears the President and the Nevada Governor are on different pages.
However, Lombardo said in a statement, "While President Trump works to address corporate homeownership issues at the federal level, my administration continues to work on this complex issue at the state level..."
"Following the end of the 36th Special Session here in Nevada, we have been actively developing an interim stakeholder working group to develop a complete understanding of the issues surrounding corporate homeownership, and we’re working to identify consensus solutions we can quickly deploy in the state to lower the cost of housing in Nevada."
This working group has not been introduced or mentioned. We asked his office for more details, and they said they could not provide any.
Even if these laws were to pass, the state has another big challenge.
It's running out of public land to develop on. According to the Governor's Office, Washoe County could run out of developable land by 2027, according to an EDAWN study. Also, according to an Applied Analysis study, it says Clark County could run out in 2032.
Both Congressman Mark Amodei (R), District 2, and Senator Rosen have proposed a public lands bill in Congress.
In the regular session, the Governor's housing bill, AB540, was signed into law.
So far, the Housing Division is reviewing 43 applications for funding from the Nevada Attainable Housing Account.
The office reminded that in April, the Governor signed a Data Sharing Agreement with the BLM to improve coordination and data accuracy on federal lands that may be disposed. The agreement does not give land, but allows more information on housing decisions.
