Committee hears AB 37 to add sub-30% AMI tier, rename housing advocate and lift database funding cap

The Assembly Committee on Government Affairs heard testimony on Assembly Bill 37 on the Nevada Housing Division's proposal to change definitions and administrative requirements used to target affordable housing programs. The division's administrator, Steve Acroft, and staff described three principal changes: renaming the affordable housing advocate position to an affordable housing liaison, formalizing an annual report produced by the division's economist and removing a $175,000 cap on funding for the division's housing database in favor of a cap equal to 6% of annual deposits into the affordable housing account. The bill also adds a new tier defining housing for households earning below 30% of area median income.

Why it matters: The bill would change how the state classifies and monitors subsidized housing, give the Housing Division greater flexibility to modernize its database and explicitly create a statutory tier for the lowest-income households, a population the division says is at elevated risk of homelessness.

Steve Acroft, administrator of the Nevada Housing Division, opened the presentation by describing the division's role and staffing: "The Nevada Housing Division is your state housing finance agency. We are now celebrating our fiftieth year in existence," he said, and noted the division's staff of 49 full-time employees. Acroft said the division is sponsoring AB 37 and described the bill as three broad changes to NRS.

Nia Girma, the division's affordable housing advocate, told the committee the role is primarily communications-focused. "The primary goal of this role is to serve as a conduit between the Nevada Housing Division and housing stakeholders, including residents, developers, service providers, government agencies, and community organizations," she said, describing outreach, complaint intake and coordination with park owners and tenants as typical duties.

Chief Financial Officer Christine Hess described the database changes and the funding cap currently fixed at $175,000 since February 2009. "The request of the division is that we free up that cap that was set in 02/2009 from $175,000 and simply make it a maximum of 6% of the monies that are deposited annually to the account for affordable housing," Hess said, explaining that the database tracks roughly 42,000 properties that are low-income housing tax credit properties or otherwise rent-restricted and is the public-facing search at NVhousingsearch.org.

Hess and Acroft also explained the new statutory tier for households earning below 30% of AMI, saying the division currently has relatively few units restricted to that level. "Last count ... it was around 1,100 units of our 42,000 that are restricted to this income level," Hess told the committee, and she and Acroft said these households typically require deeper subsidy and are often the population most at risk of homelessness.

Committee members asked about the policy and program implications of the new tier, HUD data timing and how income verification and compliance work for tax-credit properties. Acroft and Hess said federal programs and low-income housing tax credits use AMI and other federal data; Acroft noted federal programs commonly target up to 60% AMI and that tax-credit projects include a 30-year affordability monitoring period in Nevada. On recordkeeping and program monitoring, Hess said the economist already produces reports and the bill would formalize posting and clear up statutory language linking the division and other state agencies.

Public testimony included support from the Nevada chapter of NAMI, which said the bill's explicit recognition of the 30% AMI tier would help target supportive housing resources to people with very low incomes.

The presenters told the committee to expect a conceptual amendment to clarify cross-agency language in section 3; the chair indicated the committee should expect that amendment. No formal committee vote was taken during the hearing.

Looking ahead: Sponsors said the changes are intended to improve data, better target scarce resources for the lowest-income households and modernize the division's compliance and public search tools. The division asked the committee to pass the bill with amendments that will be filed after the hearing.