RENO, Nev. (AP) - An initiative in Nevada to build more affordable housing has spurred proposals for more than 2,000 new housing units in Reno, but not all have been deemed affordable, city officials said.
The deadline for Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve’s “1,000 homes in 120 days” initiative ended this week with almost double the initial target for 1,000 units, KRNV-TV reported Wednesday.
The city received proposals for 2,038 units, including townhomes, apartments, student housing and multi-family homes, officials said.
Reno City Council started the initiative in October as a pilot program to incentivize the increase in development of affordable homes and stabilize rents, city officials said.
“We know housing is the leading challenge in our city,” Schieve said. “Our staff created this bold plan that helps speed up new housing, but also makes sure the city gets every dime it’s owed. A true win-win.”
City officials expect to approve a majority of the proposals that have met certain guidelines by Feb. 26 and others that require more street access or additional land purchases would soon be up for council approval.
The city would defer more than $11 million in sewer-related costs and more than $1 million in building permit fees to get these projects going, officials said.
Each developer must pay back 20% of the amount of deferred fees they received each year for five years until fully paid back.
All housing proposals that are part of the initiative must begin construction within 18 months to get approved, but only about 300 units would be considered affordable in Reno, officials said.
“Only one of the housing projects being proposed is truly affordable - all the others will be market rate,” city Revitalization Manager Aric Jensen said. “Essentially using standard market forces, rents will either stabilize or decrease. It’s essentially the idea that if we have as many units as there are people, then we won’t see the increases in rent that we are typically seeing.”
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