When we talk about affordability in Southern Nevada, it's not just a numbers game. It's about real people like you and your neighbors trying to make ends meet.

With overall inflation down from a summer 2022 peak, the Federal Reserve’s effort to tame inflation through monetary policy has been on many accounts successful. However, households across the United States are still feeling the pinch in one specific area: housing. In this sector, inflation is running two points higher than the mainline rate.

When I talk to constituents around Nevada’s 1st Congressional District, the issue I hear most about is housing. The lack of affordable and safe housing is a critical issue facing all of Southern Nevada, where housing prices and rents have skyrocketed in recent years. We must do more to reduce housing costs.

Jair Guigui knows all too well about Las Vegas’ housing crisis. His sister recently moved in with him due to rising rental rates, and the 20-year-old said his parents, who were undocumented immigrants, were taken advantage of by a landlord which caused a number of health issues and forced them to move in with his older sister.

There is no way around it, the Las Vegas Valley has a big problem, said the leader of the Nevada Housing Coalition. “Straight answer is we have a housing crisis in every sense of the imagination,” said Maurice Page, executive director for the coalition.

If you're a renter, chances are your rent has increased in the last year. According to Redfin, the median rent in Las Vegas is about $1,500, while the national average is just over $ 1,600.

The Las Vegas metro region has one of the highest rates of rental burdens in the country, according to a new UNLV study. In Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and the overall metro region, 58.3 percent of all renters are spending more than 30 percent of their income on rental costs. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development states that a renter is “housing cost burdened” if they are spending more than 30 percent of their income on  housing costs.

Investor purchases are on the rise again, and the Las Vegas Valley has seen one of the biggest upticks in the country, according to Redfin.