Las Vegas Sun: Nevada congresswoman fights to level the playing field for Nevada families

For years, the dream of homeownership in Southern Nevada has slipped further out of reach. I see it every week as a real estate agent in North Las Vegas: cash offers crowding out first-time buyers who need financing, rents climbing faster than paychecks, working families pushed to the brink.

Investors now own nearly 1 in 4 single-family homes in Nevada. That's roughly 300,000 properties, the seventh-highest share in the nation. And the buying hasn't slowed. In the third quarter of 2025, investors accounted for 34% of all single-family home purchases in the state, the highest share in five years.

Not every investor is a Wall Street giant. Plenty are small landlords. But institutional ownership in Las Vegas runs well above the national average, and the big players operate differently. Armed with algorithms and bottomless capital, they outbid local families, pay cash, waive inspections and convert starter homes into high-priced rentals.

My community knows this better than most. Research from UNLV found investors control roughly a quarter of the homes in North Las Vegas, and one north valley ZIP code ranks among the top three in Southern Nevada for investor purchases. My clients are veterans and working families with solid VA financing who keep losing homes to cash offers. Every rejected offer is more than a lost sale. It's a family putting off equity, putting off security, wondering if owning a home is still in reach.

The math is brutal. UNLV's Lied Center estimates that a family of four now needs about $120,000 a year to afford a median-priced home in Las Vegas. Those are our teachers, our nurses, our first responders. Meanwhile, more than half of Nevada's renters spend over 30% of their income on housing.

Fortunately, Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., refused to let Washington look the other way. She helped pass the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the first major federal housing package in more than a decade. It cleared the Senate 85-5 and the House 358-32. Among its reforms is the first broad federal restriction on institutional investors: Those holding 350 or more homes are barred from buying up more single-family houses. It also cuts red tape for builders, creates a small-dollar FHA mortgage program, and expands awareness of VA home loans for veterans like the ones I serve.

Then President Donald Trump abruptly canceled the signing ceremony, calling the biggest housing bill in decades a “big yawn” and holding it hostage to an unrelated voter ID fight. Unless he vetoes it, the bill becomes law without his signature. Either way, Nevadans should remember who fought for this bill and who treated it like a bargaining chip.

Lee is also championing the Housing Oversight and Mitigating Exploitation (HOME) Act, which would prohibit rent gouging during housing emergencies. Penalties from violators would flow straight into the National Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve housing that families can actually afford, right here in Nevada.

Housing is one of the few issues that still cuts through Washington gridlock. This bill passed with overwhelming votes from both parties because the affordability crisis hits communities regardless of politics. Lee helped make that happen.

I spent 30 years in the Navy and retired as a Chief Warrant Officer 4. I learned to judge people by what they do, not what they say. Susie Lee is doing the work.

I see this housing crisis from both sides of the closing table. My time as a Realtor gives me insight most people never get: I help families compete for homes every day, and I watch what happens when they can't win. As a veteran, I believe every hardworking family deserves a fair chance to own one. That's why this fight matters.

Sherry Strothers is a 30-year Navy veteran and Realtor in North Las Vegas specializing in serving military personnel, veterans, and VA buyers and sellers. She is a candidate for North Las Vegas City Council, Ward 1.