45 sites identified for affordable housing concentrated in southwest Las Vegas valley

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — Nearly all the sites the government plans to set aside for 45 affordable housing projects are in the southwest Las Vegas valley or along the south Interstate 15 corridor.

On Tuesday, the White House announced the plan to use public lands to build affordable housing, selling parcels that are usually high-priced for just $100 an acre. That’s significant savings that makes these projects easier.

The largest parcels — one 45 acres and a second that’s 40 acres — are on Cactus Avenue in the southwest valley. Some of the land is on the edge of existing development, and some — including a 20-acre site 8 News Now highlighted on Tuesday — is smack in the middle of built-out neighborhoods.

The map below shows the cross streets provided by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for all 45 pieces of land. Maps showing precise locations are still being produced, but if you zoom in it’s easy to see where some of the projects would be built because it’s the only open land at those cross streets. A full list of the locations appears below the map.

Housing is needed all over the valley, but a cooperative effort involving the Bureau of Land Management, the state, the county and municipal governments identified these sites to build 15,000 units of affordable housing.

A review process allowing for public comment on the sale of the land is a normal part of the BLM’s method of approving projects. That process is already underway for the 20-acre site on Cactus Avenue at Castle Keep Street.

Here are some basics about the property — 525.5 acres in all:

• 36 of the 45 sites are in unincorporated Clark County (light blue on the map)
• Five are on state land (purple)
• One is in northwest Las Vegas (dark green)
• Three are in Henderson, near I-15 (light green)

All the sites are on open parcels that have this in common: they’re not privately owned. Developers bid on land that BLM occasionally auctions in the valley.

When President Joe Biden announced initiatives aimed at housing in March during a Las Vegas appearance, Gov. Joe Lombardo pointed out a major problem in the way federal land is opened up to development — it’s too slow and there’s too much red tape. Lombardo also criticized the federal government for its decisions on how to use land near Las Vegas, referring to the recent dedication of the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. Federal government decisions were part of the reason housing is so far behind in Southern Nevada, he implied.

On Tuesday, Biden announced several new efforts directed at stopping out-of-control rent increases.

The cooperative effort between federal state and local governments to identify land for affordable housing was part of that push, with a goal of building 15,000 units of affordable housing in the valley.

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