Lahontan Valley, Wadsworth get funding for housing projects

The Federal Housing Loan Bank of San Francisco announced June 26 new funding for affordable housing that will include 200 homes in the Lahontan Valley for seniors, families and the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Indian Colony.

Nine affordable housing developments will be funded by a $9.4 million from a Nevada-specific fund. According to U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., the funding will be used to build 22 new homes and a community center for families who reside on the colony and to renovate 85 apartments for Fallon’s seniors and 95 homes for middle-class families. To the west of Fallon, the funding will also construct 20 new homes and a park for members of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Wadsworth.

“When I talk to tribal families in Nevada, housing is one of their top concerns,” Cortez Masto told the Nevada News Group. “That’s why I’ve been pushing Federal Home Loan Banks to invest in tribal communities, and these funds I secured will help native families afford their homes and provide much-needed stability. FHL Banks were created to support economic development and affordable housing, and I’ll keep fighting to ensure Nevada gets its fair share of resources.”

This announcement comes on the heels of $27 million in grants awarded from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the development and operation of affordable housing. Fallon will receive about $2.3 million and the Walker River Paiute Tribe more than $4.3 million.

Seventeen tribal communities across Nevada, including the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone and Walker River Paiute tribes, will receive almost $27 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the development and operation of affordable housing.

Other projects include 192 new affordable homes for seniors in North Las Vegas; 24 affordable homes in Pershing County for families; transitional housing to support women in Reno from drug or alcohol addiction; 50 new apartments to help Las Vegas residents; and 36 new homes for low-income seniors at the Laughlin Senior Apartments.

“For the past six years, I’ve been fighting to lower housing costs and help build more homes for hardworking Nevadans including for our tribal and rural communities,” Cortez Masto said in a news release. “This funding is just part of my commitment to working with the Federal Home Loan Bank system to deliver for the Silver State. While there is more work to do, I know these resources I secured will help families, seniors, and Native American families statewide.”

Cortez Masto also secured $4.8 million in 2023 from the Federal Home Loan Bank which targeted its funding to support Nevada’s affordable housing organization. According to the senator’s Washington, D.C., office, she is also leading legislation to increase federal funds for the HOME Investment Partnership Program. This legislation would be used to build more affordable housing across the United States.