The discussion, which laid bare starkly different visions of how the state should be intervening in housing policy during the pandemic, comes at a time when home values are at record highs and homes are in short supply.

Southern Nevada apartment rents increased significantly in the last quarter of 2020, rebounding from a decline earlier in the year and surpassing pre-pandemic highs, according to a new report from the Nevada State Apartment Association (NVSAA).

The state is anticipating a flood of evictions after the first of the year when the federal eviction moratorium and CARES Act — which has provided millions of dollars in rental assistance — expire.

While a statewide eviction moratorium lapsed in mid-October, Gov. Steve Sisolak has said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s moratorium should help families still on the brink of losing their homes. But many evictions are taking place anyway, amid what appears to be a difference in opinion between courts and tenant advocates over how broad the CDC moratorium’s protections extend.

The tool provided by the Las Vegas Justice Court allows people who have been served an eviction notice, but can’t pay the rent that’s due or otherwise address the underlying reason for their eviction, to file an answer in court. A tenant filing an answer triggers a process that results in a court setting a hearing date on the eviction.

Gov. Sisolak, at a press conference on Wednesday, pointed to the CDC moratorium as his response to Nevadans fearful that the end of the state directive might mean they’re booted from their homes. And he said he didn’t plan to extend the parallel state protections, saying doing so would be “duplicative.”

“There won't be as much use this fall for the eviction program because of the presence of the CDC moratorium ... and come January, there'll be no moratorium but there'll be no money to be able to handle eviction mediations,” Hardesty said. “That seems to me to be a problem.”

Romero is one of the many Nevadans calling on the Nevada Supreme Court to adopt regulations that would allow tenants or landlords to request mediation when an eviction looms. A Tuesday hearing to consider the two primary proposals comes nearly two months after lawmakers authorized a mediation program as a way of preventing a sudden rush of evictions when ongoing moratoriums created in response to the pandemic are lifted.

Home Means Nevada, an offshoot of Nevada’s Division of Business and Industry that runs programs focused on keeping people in their homes, issued a frequently asked questions flyer on Wednesday explaining who’s protected by the various eviction freezes.

“Since launching a week ago, incoming applications have highlighted just how many small businesses and non-profit organizations throughout Nevada have been financially impacted by COVID-19 and are in need of assistance,” officials said in a press release.

Just hours before residential evictions on the basis of non-payment of rent were allowed to legally resume on Sept. 1, the Democratic governor’s office announced at a press conference in Las Vegas on Monday that the freeze on evictions will continue for another 45 days. He said his staff had been working up until Monday morning trying to figure out a way forward without an extension.

Mom-and-pop landlords say they’re being unfairly harmed by policies protecting tenants while leaving owners on a financial cliff. Some have fallen behind on mortgages or are chewing through their savings to keep afloat.

But as a five-month-old, statewide moratorium on evictions is set to end on Tuesday, group members are finding they’re short on answers for the anxious people reaching out to them with questions. A federally funded rental assistance program is, at least for now, not taking any additional applications in Clark County as it works through a backlog, and officials with the Supreme Court say a tenant mediation program recently approved by the Legislature may not be up and running until late October.

Gov. Steve Sisolak lifted a moratorium on commercial evictions on June 25, allowing landlords to evict commercial tenants for non-payment of rent beginning July 1. To help struggling commercial tenants, the state is rolling out commercial rental assistance for small businesses, but experts say an increase in commercial eviction filings are on the horizon.

Nevada Treasurer Zach Conine revealed details about the new program he’s helping lead in an interview Monday with The Nevada Independent. The relief fund comes as Nevada eases out of a complete moratorium on evictions enacted in late March after non-essential businesses were ordered to close, and as evictions for non-payment of residential rent are expected to resume by September.

Experts estimate about 10 to 13 percent of renters, or more than 100,000 households, are behind on rent. Gov. Steve Sisolak announced Thursday a gradual lift of the eviction moratorium at a time when thousands are facing potential eviction notices and the state's unemployment rate, which peaked at more than 28 percent in April, is estimated to be worse than that seen in the Great Depression.

The latest directive, announced Thursday, allows evictions to resume earlier for causes such as violations of lease conditions or nuisance issues, and allows eviction proceedings to resume for commercial properties for reasons including non-payment of rent in July. It comes as the current order was set to expire at the end of June.

Following recent attempts to evict residents amid an ongoing lawsuit over who has the legal right to live at the Winnemucca Indian Colony, a court has prohibited the colony's governing council from continuing cleanups, demolitions or other work on the colony land.

With June approaching and Sisolak announcing a move into a broader “Phase 2” business and societal reopening effective Friday, questions are percolating about whether the moratorium may be extended, and if not, how people in a state with 28.2 percent unemployment can make several months of rent or mortgage payments that suddenly come due.