WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) joined Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) in reintroducing the HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Improvement Act to help address Nevada’s affordable housing crisis. This legislation would significantly increase the amount of federal funds available for affordable housing across the country. Since 1992, the HOME program has helped Nevada construct 4,891 affordable housing units and 3,130 rental units, while providing 810 households with homebuyer assistance and 8,831 households with funding for rehabilitation projects.
“Hardworking Nevada families are feeling the squeeze of inflation and sky-rocketing housing prices,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m helping introduce this legislation with Senator Cortez Masto to make housing more affordable and accessible for Nevadans. I’ll always do everything I can to lower costs.”
“We have to do more to address our affordable housing crisis and increase the supply of affordable homes for Nevada families,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “The HOME program delivers critical funding to help communities build new housing units, support rental assistance, and support new homebuyers – but it needs to be updated to meet today’s needs. My legislation reauthorizing, improving and expanding this vital program will ensure more Nevadans have a quality, affordable place to call home.”
“At Nevada HAND, we are dedicated to creating thriving communities by building high-quality, affordable homes. We proudly support the HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2024. With its increased authorization levels and focus on homeownership assistance, this legislation enables our state to more effectively address the diverse housing needs in Nevada. This act represents a forward-thinking approach to affordable housing, aligning seamlessly with our long-standing mission to provide not just homes but foundations for thriving communities across our state,” said Wally Swenson, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Nevada HAND.
“Neighborhood Housing Services of Southern Nevada believes that housing is the essential foundation for individuals and families to lead healthy and sustainable lives. As CEO, I have personally witnessed the history of HOME funds being administered by NHSSN. We have helped empower many families who thought they could not own a home.” said Michelle Merced, CEO and President of Neighborhood Housing Services of Southern Nevada. “HOME funds are a tool and a catalyst to help us with our vision to build better neighborhoods block by block! HOME funds allow us to create spaces where dreams flourish and futures are shaped.”
The HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) is the largest federal affordable housing block grant and has helped state and local housing agencies support a wide variety of housing needs, from financing new construction and home repairs to funding down payment and rental assistance. It provides additional funding to housing developments financed by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, helping the program serve more extremely low-income people including seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities.
The program was last reauthorized in 1994 and needs critical updates to better address today’s housing crisis. The HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Improvement Act would reauthorize the HOME program and make a number of needed improvements. Specifically, it would:
- Authorize $5 billion in HOME funding for fiscal year 2024 and boost the funding for the program five percent annually through 2028. Cortez Masto’s legislation would address chronic underfunding of the affordable housing investment program, which received only $1.5 billion in 2023.
- Improve HOME’s ability to provide downpayment assistance to homebuyers and home repair assistance to homeowners.
- Enable HOME funds to support Community Land Trusts and other shared equity homeownership programs.
- Increase access to HOME funds for nonprofits and provide state and local governments loan guarantee options that would allow them to leverage their future HOME funds for investments today.
Senator Rosen is fighting to lower costs and make housing more affordable for Nevadans. Earlier this month, she introduced the Housing Oversight and Mitigating Exploitation (HOME) Act to help lower housing costs for Nevadans by cracking down on price gouging by corporate investors who are buying up housing stock and driving up home prices. Her new Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act would expand affordable housing opportunities in Washoe County by directing over 15,800 acres of public lands to be made eligible for sale, all of which must be assessed for its suitability for new affordable housing. An additional 30 acres are set aside to only be sold for affordable housing.
Last year, Senator Rosen led her colleagues in a letter to Senate Appropriators requesting that they fund the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Veterans Affairs and Supportive Housing program. Senator Rosen also helped secure nearly $15 million in funding to address homelessness and housing insecurity in southern Nevada and more than $48 million to increase access to affordable housing in the state. Additionally, she helped pass legislation to provide nearly $165 million in funding to Nevada for emergency rental assistance, as well as the funding for Nevada’s $500 million Home Means Nevada Initiative.
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