Nevada HAND to freeze rent on affordable housing units

A nonprofit affordable housing developer and property manager will freeze rent on its units across the Las Vegas Valley to combat the rising costs of living, it announced Monday.

The announcement comes as market-rate rental housing across the region rises while nonprofit Nevada HAND’s residents still feel the effects of economic volatility from the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Audra Hamernik said.

“This wasn’t the easiest decision but for the sake of our residents and the community we think it’s the right decision,” Hamernik said. “And we’ve made this due to the state of the economy, the current cost of living and the ongoing pandemic. But what that means is that each and every resident that we serve in our independent living communities will not have their rent increase this year.”

To fund the freeze and supportive services offered at all Nevada HAND communities, the nonprofit hopes to raise $2.5 million in donations — its largest campaign.

A July report from the Nevada State Apartment Association estimates rent has increased 18 percent compared with rent at this time last year. A typical rent in the metro area was $1,591 in June. The average monthly lease is $733 at Nevada HAND’s 34 family housing and assisted living communities, the agency said.

Nevada HAND, which builds affordable apartment housing with on-site support services, also waived late fees and froze rent in 2020 because of the pandemic. A major 480-unit housing project, Decatur Commons on Alta and Decatur drives, is expected to finish construction in early 2022. The agency has about an interest list of about 2,200 people.

The units are based on the area median income and a renter’s ability to pay. An increase is anywhere between $10 to $45 and occurs when a lease is renewed, officials said.

Some residents praised the rent freeze, saying the affordability and access to wrap-around services help improve their lives. North Las Vegas resident Hirney Jimenez Vasquez said she and her two children moved to Rome Pines apartments as domestic violence survivors in need of a home.

“I didn’t have credit, I didn’t have a safe job,” Jimenez Vasquez said in Spanish. “In difficult times, Nevada HAND is there. In the pandemic, Nevada HAND has supported us, they have looked for resources to be able to meet each and every one of our needs for our children and for ourselves.”

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.