Editorial: ‘Affordable’ taking on a new meaning

Monday, July 11, 2005 | 8:48 a.m.

Nevada has always been at a tax disadvantage because 87 percent of its land mass is owned by the federal government. With so much land off limits for private development, which otherwise would generate revenue for government, and with Nevada leading the country in population growth, something had to be done. And it was. In 1998 Congress passed the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. Its most notable provision guaranteed that when federal land is sold in Nevada, 100 percent of the proceeds will be used for public needs within the state, as compensation for so much land being off the tax rolls. A little-known and as yet unused provision also authorizes the secretary of the Interior Department "to make available any federal land in Nevada at less than fair market value for affordable housing purposes."

With prices in the Las Vegas Valley now soaring above $300,000 for even modest houses, the availability of affordable housing has become a priority issue. In a report earlier this year, the Clark County Growth Task Force concluded that affordable housing is one of the area's greatest needs. Now a group has come along with a proposal it says will help fill that need.

The Tapestry Group, a private real-estate foundation based in Scottsdale, Ariz., approached the Las Vegas Housing Authority in June with a plan to act on the affordable-housing provision in the 1998 federal land act. The federal offer of discounted land is available only to local-government agencies, so the Tapestry Group suggested that it and the housing authority form a partnership. The two would work together on obtaining nearly 30 acres of federal land near Iron Mountain Road and U.S. 95 in northwest Las Vegas. The Tapestry Group would finance the deal, for up to $35 million, and build 300 apartments. After 10 years of collecting rent, the Tapestry Group would withdraw from the partnership, leaving the housing authority as the sole owner and operator of the units.

A major sticking point is that starting rents in this proposed development would range from $780 to $950 a month. This led housing commissioner Franny Forsman to ask, "What priorities do we have? Have we taken care of business with the neediest of our residents first?" Forsman's question is profound. Affordable housing used to mean subsidized apartments for low-income people who could not otherwise afford a home for their families. But does it now mean apartments for families with household incomes of around $50,000? This is the income people would need to afford rent that high.

We understand that salaries for most Las Vegans are not coming anywhere close to keeping pace with housing prices that have drastically increased in the past couple of years, a situation that has resulted in middle-class families being priced out of owning a piece of the American Dream. Nevertheless, we are concerned that the Tapestry Group's proposal, whose rents would be out of reach for many low-income families, could result in the neediest families being left behind.