Nevada lawmakers have repeatedly considered rent control or rent stabilization measures to address rising housing costs, with bills introduced in the 2019 and 2021 legislative sessions that did not advance. More recently, legislation capping rent increases passed in both 2023 and 2025, but Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed the measures each time, warning that price caps could create "ripple effects that disrupt the rental market as a whole."
Kelly Gaines, president and CEO of the Nevada Subcontractors Association, writes that those vetoes have kept Nevada open for investment in home construction that employs local laborers. She argues that when government caps what landlords can charge, it caps the return on building new housing, causing capital to move elsewhere.
A 2024 review of more than 100 studies published in the Journal of Housing Economics found that most research points in the same direction: rent control reduces new housing construction and shrinks overall housing supply. Gaines cites the experience in San Francisco, where rent-controlled buildings were 8 percentage points more likely to convert to condos, contributing to a 15 percent decline in renters living in affected buildings.
Surveys of economists have repeatedly found overwhelming agreement that caps on rent reduce both the quantity and quality of available housing. Gaines says Las Vegas is one of the fastest-growing metros in the country, and while growth has pressured the rental market, the solution to a housing shortage is more housing, not a policy that discourages construction.
She argues that creating more affordable housing in Southern Nevada requires an environment that encourages building by streamlining permits, reining in burdensome regulations, and developing a well-trained workforce. "Rent control doesn't build that future — it puts it further out of reach," Gaines writes.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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