CARSON CITY — Gov. Steve Sisolak extended Nevada’s residential eviction moratorium for two more months but said there will be no further extensions.
Today’s announcement comes a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended a nationwide eviction moratorium through June 30.
The state extension will let Nevadans access federal assistance.
“I did not plan on extending this moratorium today, but I’m not going to put thousands of Nevadans at risk of losing their homes while funding exists to help them and the landlords,” Sisolak said.
Congress last month passed a pandemic rescue plan that includes $22 billion rental assistance, on top of $25 billion allocated in January.
“My expectation is that all stakeholders will work together to ensure systems are created to get these dollars out the door faster to help landlords and tenants,” Sisolak said. “It does not make sense to put thousands of tenants at risk of eviction when rental assistance dollars are available.”
In Clark County, more than 22,500 households have received assistance through the state’s housing assistance program, a county spokesperson said. Another 23,5000 applications are pending.
The county expects to get about $161 million through the two rounds of federal funding, enough to help about 40,000 households.
Eviction filings in court can resume once the state moratorium expires, but tenants will be protected from being evicted until the federal moratorium runs out, Sisolak said.
“We must transition out of our eviction moratorium but do so in a way that protects tenants and landlords to the greatest extent possible,” Sisolak said.
Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, applauded the extension.
“This extension gives state, local and county entities time to find and implement procedures to give rental assistance dollars to landlords as well as tenants more quickly and efficiently,” Frierson said.
The Nevada State Apartment Association had hoped Sisolak would let the moratorium expire, but the group understands the extension “given the rent assistance situation,” Executive Director Susy Vasquez said in a statement.
The extension will ”allow for preparation for rental assistance programs that will help a significant number of tenants and will also afford them the ability to return to work and begin the process of returning to normalcy and the ability to pay rent,” she said.