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Proven solutions, not political stunts, will fix housing crisis

States across the country are battling high costs of living that are hitting residents’ pocketbooks harder and harder each day. Nowhere is that more visible than in the housing market. As rents rise and inflation continues to squeeze those on fixed incomes, lawmakers are understandably searching for solutions to provide relief.

In the interest of providing a quick fix to their constituents’ housing affordability challenges, many of the country’s state and local governments have attempted to artificially limit prices by implementing rent control measures. We’ve seen this play out time and time again, and unfortunately the result is almost always the same.

Rent control measures are counterproductive, making it difficult to bring new units to market and ultimately making housing less affordable for everyone.

Unfortunately, Nevada risks not only repeating those same mistakes with Assembly Bill 280, but taking these problematic policies to new extremes, as the proposal would establish one of the most stringent rent caps in the nation, limiting rent increases to 5% for certain renters.

What makes this even more concerning is that AB 280 goes further than rent control measures that have already been rejected elsewhere — including in states far more politically inclined to embrace such policies. In 2024 in California, for example, voters resoundingly rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed local governments to cap rent prices even more drastically than the statewide rent control, which is set at 5% plus the cost of inflation.

The reality is that Nevadans don’t need rent control proposals that have been proven unsuccessful everywhere else, and which have already been vetoed once by Gov. Joe Lombardo, who called the previous iteration of the bill “needlessly heavy-handed” — they need policy solutions that will incentivize new housing construction.

And this need is only becoming more urgent. Nevada is changing — since 2010, it has grown by an average of 24,000 residents a year — but a long-standing inability to build new homes, caused by increased construction costs, has limited space available for development, and a lack of multifamily building permits has limited housing supply so much that rent prices have gone through the roof.

Between now and 2030, Nevada will need to build 7,000 new apartment homes each year to keep up with demand. Legislators should be focusing on solutions that address the problem of housing availability, incentivizing new production that will increase supply and decrease prices.

Fortunately, Lombardo has already laid the groundwork for a more thoughtful, long-term approach. His housing bill, AB 540, would invest $200 million in attainable housing, streamline permitting, reduce regulatory burdens and provide support for essential workers like teachers, nurses and police officers.

In addition, the governor has committed to working with the federal government to release federal lands for additional housing development. The federal government owns nearly 85% of Nevada land, and nearly 80% of the land in the state’s three urban counties. Freeing up even a fraction of this land to expand housing development would rapidly increase the supply of available units, drive down housing costs through market competition, and give local governments the flexibility they need to meet the demands of a growing population.

That’s the direction we should be headed — not toward failed policies that drive up costs and drive out investment. If we want more affordable housing, we need more housing — plain and simple. Nevada’s leaders have the opportunity to protect the state’s future by opposing AB 280 and supporting the bold, commonsense solutions already on the table.

Marcia Fudge served as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Biden administration and previously as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Steve Stivers is president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and served in the House, where he was a member of the Financial Services Committee and as the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance.