Housing market will get a boost from state

By Cy Ryan

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The state Housing Division is moving forward with plans to lend $125 million to first-time, lower-income homebuyers in Nevada.

Agency officials estimate the money, which will be raised through the sale of state bonds, will finance the purchase of about 850 homes.

Lon DeWeese, chief financial officer of the division, said a family of two earning up to $78,480 can qualify for a first-time loan. The average loan issued through the program is $125,124. The maximum amount is $349,000.

The money can be borrowed through banks, savings and loans, and other financial institutions.

The state Finance Board approved issuing the bonds Tuesday.

DeWeese noted that troubles in the real estate market have made homeownership more affordable. Forty-three percent of home loans issued in Clark County last month were to first-time homebuyers, he said.

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The Finance Board also authorized the sale Tuesday of $115 million in bonds to finance state projects.

Lori Chatwood, deputy state treasurer, told the board that $75 million will be used for capital improvements, $3 million will go toward cultural affairs grants and $26 million to $27 million will go to refunding bonds.

Among the projects to be financed are a 36-bed child and adolescent hospital in Las Vegas ($9.6 million), expansion of the Southern Nevada Veterans Cemetery ($781,448), a military readiness center in North Las Vegas ($11.7 million), and completion of the Las Vegas Springs Preserve Museum ($5 million).

The $3 million in cultural affairs grants will finance preservation and cultural projects approved in March. They included $300,000 to help convert the old Las Vegas post office and federal courthouse into a mob museum and $200,000 for the Neon Museum.

The board also approved three other bond issues totaling more than $29 million for parks and outdoor projects, most of them in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

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Proposals are streaming in for a shot at next year’s cultural affairs grants.

The mob museum is requesting another $343,462. The commission has so far given $2 million to the project.

The application from Las Vegas was one of 27 submitted by the deadline to the state Commission on Cultural Affairs.

The commission will again have $3 million to grant to projects this fiscal year. The applications were for projects seeking a total of $6.8 million.

Mesquite wants $40,000 to restore the Mesquite High School gym; Clark County is asking for $192,738 for preservation of railroad cottages; and the Neon Museum is seeking $360,000 for La Concha Motel Lobby.

The largest request is from Artspace Projects for $927,038 to restore the Riverside Hotel in Reno.

Ron James, administrator of the commission, said the awards will be decided in March.