Regional board ratifies HOME and state trust allocations for two Reno-area affordable projects

The Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Governing Board on June 12 ratified recommendations from the Washoe County HOME Consortium directors to allocate funding for two new affordable housing projects and to dedicate state trust funds to rental and deposit assistance.

The board approved using approximately $1,942,041 in HOME development funds for two projects—Summit Ridge Apartments (family housing, roughly 40 units) and Summit Heights Senior Apartments Phase 1 (senior housing, roughly 43 units)—and directed roughly $874,600 in Nevada Affordable Housing Trust funds to the regional rental and deposit assistance program administered by the City of Reno, for a total of about $2.8 million in allocations.

The board ratified the funding after staff overviewed the application and review process. Shawnee Souza of TeamRPA described the intergovernmental review path: the technical review committee evaluates applications and makes recommendations to the directors (city managers and county manager), whose recommendations come to the governing board for ratification. Elaine Wiseman, City of Reno, said the city is the lead agency for the Washoe County HOME Consortium and that City staff administer the HOME funds and the rental assistance portal.

Wiseman described the two projects the board approved. Summit Ridge is a 40‑unit family complex near West Fourth Street that will include one-, two- and three‑bedroom units; the applicant committed three units at 30% of area median income (AMI), three units at 50% AMI and the remainder at 60% AMI or below. Summit Heights Phase 1 is a 43‑unit senior development (55 and older) on the same street near Renown Urgent Care; it includes one unit at 30% AMI, four units at 50% AMI and the remainder at 60% AMI or below. Wiseman said both projects received 9% low‑income housing tax credits from the state and were recommended for funding by the technical review committee.

Wiseman also explained the Nevada Affordable Housing Trust Funds allocation: the directors recommended and staff asked the governing board to ratify using the full amount received this year for tenant-based rental and deposit assistance (TBRA) targeted to households at 60% AMI and below. She said the trust funds are administered as rental and deposit assistance by the City of Reno but serve the entire HOME Consortium region and that “we serve hundreds of households every year” through the program.

Board members questioned how to increase the share of deeply affordable units (30% AMI) in projects. Wiseman explained development financing pressures, including higher construction costs and flexible state rules on income averaging for tax-credit projects, which can permit higher‑income units to offset lower‑income units under some programs. She said many developer fees are deferred, and that projects increasingly require additional subsidy to “pencil.”

A motion to approve the HOME Consortium funding allocation, made during the meeting, carried unanimously. The vote followed the procedural history outlined by staff: applications were due in January 2025, technical review committee public meetings occurred in February–April, directors approved recommendations in April, and the governing board was required by the intergovernmental agreement to ratify the allocations.

The board packet and staff presentation list a HOME development total of $1,942,041 and Nevada Affordable Housing Trust funding of approximately $874,600 for the FY2025 allocations. Wiseman said the HOME portfolio now includes more than 86 properties in the consortium and that five upcoming openings later this year will add about 534 units regionwide (figures cited by staff during the presentation).