(Photo courtesy of Nevada Housing Justice Alliance)
Housing is often touted as a crucial ‘kitchen table’ issue, but for the vast majority of state lawmakers “home” means a single-family residence they own.
That’s true nationally, according to researchers at Boston University and the University of Georgia, who used property records and voter registration data to estimate that at least 93% of officeholders nationwide either own their homes or likely own their homes. It’s also true in the Silver State, according to a Nevada Current review of campaign finance reports and property records.
The Current found at least 90% of the 63 members of the Nevada State Legislature are homeowners, and at least 58% own additional real estate, most of them rental units.
That lived experience, combined with the lobbying strength of industries focused on realty and landlords, contributes to the difficulty of passing even modest tenant protections, say advocates.
Homeowners are also more likely to vote, national election surveys and academic studies have found. Politicians worried about their next election cycle no doubt know that.
Before last year’s general election, the Nevada Housing Justice Alliance organized a tenant march to the polls. Their message, written on poster boards and running like an undercurrent as they advocated for summary eviction reform and rent stabilization, was clear: “Your landlord is voting. Are you?”
Renter districts, owner districts
Nevada’s rate of homeownership is lower than the national average, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Four out of 10 housing units are occupied by renters. But renters are not evenly distributed across the state.
The Current compiled available data from 2023 and found that the percentage of renters in Nevada’s 63 state legislative districts ranges from 21% to 79%.
Senate District 10, located in the central part of the Las Vegas Valley, has the highest percentage of renters: 70% of occupied units have renters in them and 30% are owner occupied.
Not far behind are Senate District 2, covering much of east Las Vegas, and Senate District 13, covering much of central Reno and Sparks. They have renters living in 67% and 63% of their respective occupied housing units.
All three districts are represented by Democrats: state Sens. Fabian Doñate, Edgar Flores and Skip Daly, respectively.
At the other extreme is Senate District 20, a Henderson district that includes Sun City Anthem and Laughlin. Renters represent only 23% of its occupied units there.
Only slightly better for renters: Senate District 14, which includes a large swath of Northern Nevada’s rural counties as well as North Valleys in Reno, and Senate District 19, which covers the rural counties of eastern Nevada and parts of Clark and Nye counties. Those districts have renters in 24% and 26% of respective occupied units.
All three of the most homeowner-heavy districts are represented by Republicans: state Sens. Jeff Stone, Ira Hansen and John Ellison, respectively.
That partisan breakdown of Republicans representing districts with low percentages of renters and Democrats representing districts with high percentages of them is consistent across nearly all state senate districts.
The only outlier in the upper chamber is Senate District 5, a competitive Southern Nevada district covering part of Henderson and Paradise. SD5 is currently represented by Republican Carrie Buck. It ranks in the middle of the pack when it comes to its percentage of renters, with 45% of occupied units containing renters and 55% being owner occupied.
Because each Nevada State Senate district is composed of two Assembly districts, the partisan breakdown of renters largely holds true for the lower chamber. Assembly District 15, covering part of the center of the Las Vegas Valley, has the highest percentage of its housing units occupied by renters: 79%. Assembly District 36, which covers much of Pahrump and a sliver of Clark County, has the mirror opposite: 79% are owner occupied and 21% are occupied by renters.
Pew Research last year released an analysis of national data finding that “about half of voters who own a home (51%) align with the GOP, while slightly fewer (46%) are Democrats or Democratic leaners.” Meanwhile, voters who rent favor Democrats 2-to-1.
Landlords in the Legislature
State Sen. Jeff Stone, the Henderson Republican whose district has the lowest percentage of renters, has referred to himself as a “compassionate landlord” while opposing rent stabilization legislation. He and his wife own nearly seven dozen rental units, according to his most recent financial disclosure form. Most of those units are a part of Enclave Apartments in Las Vegas.
Nevada requires elected officials and political candidates to submit annual financial disclosure forms that list any real property they or someone in their household owns besides their personal residence, but only in states adjacent to Nevada.
Stone is, according to these forms, the most prolific landlord in the Legislature, but he is hardly alone. The Current’s review of financial disclosure forms found that one-third of state legislators are rental property owners. That is significantly higher than the population at large where 6.7% of individual tax filers in 2018 reported owning rental properties, according to Pew Research.
The Current found that a majority of Nevada state legislators — 12 of 21 senators and 25 of 42 assemblymembers — own some kind of property not used as their personal residence. Because elected officials are only required to disclose property in Nevada and adjacent states, this could be an undercount.
Most of the properties disclosed by legislators are described by them simply as rentals. Five lawmakers list vacation homes or timeshares. A few list homes occupied by a parent, child or other family member. One assemblymember owns two commercial shopping centers. Another owns several plots of undeveloped land.
Being a landlord and supporting pro-tenant legislation are not mutually exclusive. During the 2019 and 2022 Legislative Sessions, then-state Sen. Julia Ratti, a Democrat who represented a renter-heavy district in Reno, championed legislation to give renters more rights and protections. She spoke about being a landlord herself, and her financial disclosure forms from those years list her owning two rental properties.
Still, having more lived and current experience could help elevate such issues, say advocates.
‘Not fringe’
Assemblymember Cecelia González, a Las Vegas Democrat whose district is 60% rental units, is one of few legislators who doesn’t own their own home. She has been outspoken about the impact of rapidly rising rent prices since the covid pandemic — an issue housing advocates say has gotten worse since temporary protections for renters ended.
In 2023, she posted on social media: “3 years ago I first signed my lease for $950. Today it is $1450…. And I truly don’t know how I am going to afford rent.”
Last year, González, a K-12 educator and doctoral candidate, mused about doing gig work for a food delivery company: “I can’t believe I am door dashing right now to afford rent. Just, wow.”
“I’ve been very vocal about my lived experience,” she told the Current. “I’m not from a wealthy family, not from generations of wealth. I talk about DoorDashing to supplement income, or trying to buy a home and being priced out.”
She elaborated: “I was asked, ‘How much are your parents gifting you?’ Like that was just a normal thing, to give you $50,000 as a downpayment. It was unreal to me.”
González said she believes the Legislature is getting more diverse and is welcoming of informed perspectives. She points to the election of Democratic Assemblymember Jovan Jackson, who last year became the first formerly incarcerated person elected to the body.
“Those conversations change” when those voices are included, she added.
But whether that will lead to actual policy changes is a far more complicated equation. González points to renter protection bills, such as rent stabilization for seniors, that were vetoed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo in 2023.
“The Legislature did their work,” she said. “He vetoed. He’ll have to answer to that in the 2026 election.”
Many of those policy proposals are expected to return in this year’s session.
Tenant advocates know they’ll have to compete for attention against housing bills that focus on homeownership and not renters.
“(There is) a push for homeownership as the end all, be all, the whole path and the whole expectation,” says Ben Iness, the coalition coordinator for the Nevada Housing Justice Alliance. “Embedded within that is the perpetuation of the supply narrative. That (struggles are) only happening because there is a shortage and if we can just build then things will level out and be fine.”
It is a myopic view, he adds, and pushing for pro-tenant policies can sometimes “feel like the pariah or black sheep of housing work” because of it.
Iness believes that renter protections are important regardless of whether a housing market that centers single-family homes is hot or cold.
“Being a renter or tenant is not fringe,” he says. “I hope that there’s a lot of power in recognizing that.”
Nevada Current reporter Michael Lyle contributed to this article.