Community leaders at an IndyFest 2024 panel on Friday all agreed on one thing: More affordable housing is needed in Nevada. 

In a discussion with Nevada Independent CEO and Editor Jon Ralston and reporter Tabitha Mueller at The Indy’s annual conference, panelists said that an increase in interest rates, a growing population and limited land supply contributed to the rapid rise in housing prices in recent years. 

The panel featured Steve Aichroth, the administrator of the Nevada Housing Division; Alex Cherup, the interim executive director of Nevada Legal Services; Meredith Levine, director of economic and fiscal policy for the Guinn Center; and Realtor Stephanie Grant.

“Since the pandemic, we’ve seen an exacerbation of issues that have already been there,”  Levine said about housing. 

Panelists got into some finer-grained proposals such as ending Nevada’s summary eviction process, which requires tenants to make the first court filing in order to challenge an eviction notice, and expanding the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which gives state and local agencies billions each year to spend on rental housing for people with lower incomes. 

Watch the full panel discussion here: