Letter: Teachers, others unable to find affordable homes

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | 8:42 a.m.

The Legislature should intervene when speculation and greed drive a home price from $170,000 to more than $300,000 in six months. A home that was once within reach is now a message to consider moving elsewhere.

Each homeowner in Nevada should be allowed to cap the property taxes on a home here if they live within the state or their absence is due to military service. It's a mistake to reward the investors, who have driven home prices beyond the reach of the average citizen.

There are enough ways in Las Vegas to make money without offering tax breaks to investors who drive home prices beyond the reach of families. Every hard-working American deserves an affordable home, which is something else the Legislature should make a priority. I'm affected by the rise in home prices. I'm with my wife now, who is in the Army and stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y., but when her enlistment is up next month, we're both moving into a rental home in Las Vegas.

The effects of this frantic boom in home prices remain to be seen. As a teacher (I taught at Cheyenne High School last year and will teach there again beginning in the fall), I sense that one effect will be that the teacher drought the children of Las Vegas suffer every year is sure to worsen. When teacher recruits learn that they will be unable to afford homes, Las Vegas will find itself left with the teachers who cannot get jobs anywhere else.

JEREMY M. CHRISTENSEN Fort Drum, N.Y.