Housing woes in Nevada, West Coast and beyond push into 2020 debate
LAS VEGAS » Like many, Mario Wolthers was lured to Las Vegas a decade ago from California by cheaper housing costs. But when his apartment managers tried to raise his rent last spring, he moved in with a roommate.
“I’m a responsible taxpaying citizen,” said Wolthers, a 38-year-old elementary school teacher and Democrat. “I help a lot of kids out. I should at least be able to rent an apartment on my own or even afford a home.”
As the Democratic presidential candidates hustle for votes in Nevada, the third state on the 2020 voting calendar, they have been trying to answer Wolthers’ complaint. The contenders are cranking out housing plans, meeting with advocates and pledging to help bring down prices.
Their proposals have not dominated the campaign in the way that health care or immigration has. Still, they represent the seeds of a political debate likely to grow as high rents and home prices spread from expensive cities such as Los Angeles and New York to onceaffordable pockets like Las Vegas and Reno.
“It’s affecting the overwhelming majority of the population here,” said Aria Overli of the housing-focused activist group Actionn, in Reno. Overli said she has lost track of the number of presidential campaigns she’s talked with about real estate costs. It’s not just Nevada. Houses cost more than five times the typical household income — meaning they’re probably out of reach of most families — in one-seventh of the metro areas in the United States, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Rents are rising at twice the rate of inflation nationally.
On the West Coast, soaring rents and home prices have helped trigger a new wave of homelessness and a debate over solutions. President Donald Trump has used the crisis to criticize Democratic leadership in California. He’s suggested it may require federal intervention.
Democratic candidates have their own ideas.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders recently came out with a plan in Las Vegas to spend $2.5 trillion over the next decade to improve public housing, combat homelessness and establish national rent control. Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, who has proposed letting families “homestead” on abandoned land in cities, toured Reno with Actionn on Saturday to discuss housing.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts released a plan in March to spend $500 billion over 10 years to build housing units. California Sen. Kamala Harris is proposing a tax credit for families spending more than 30% on rent.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker also backs a renters’ tax credit.
Julian Castro, housing secretary in the Obama administration, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar are among those proposing more money for federal housing vouchers.