Mortgage Matters

Announcer 0:00
This is a KU NB studios original program. The

Wesley Knight 0:04
content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. November,

Roland Daniels 0:43
good morning Las Vegas. Welcome to mortgage matters. I'm Roland Daniels, a certified mortgage advisor with Geneva financial. My NMLS number is 355859, company. NMLS number is 42056, and I'm here this morning as always, with my fantastic co host, Heidi Griffith, good morning. Heidi, well,

Heidi Griffith 1:05
good morning. Roland, how are you happy? Sunday. Happy Sunday. I'm Heidi Griffith. I'm also a mortgage advisor and your Director of Client Services. My NMLS number is 2247754, so we were originally scheduled to be joined in studio by Congresswoman Susie Lee, who represents Nevada's third district, but due to last minute changes in the congressional calendar, she had to fly back to DC. So we're recording this episode on Tuesday, July 1. By the time you're hearing it, things may have changed, but what we know as of right now is that the Senate was in the longest vote around Senate history, debating and voting on dozen of amendments to the reconciliation bill that's become known as the big, beautiful bill. Now the house will need to vote again to finalize it, and Congresswoman Lee is part of that process and flew to Washington to ensure Las Vegas and Nevada's voice is heard. We're incredibly grateful that even with this schedule change. She's still joining us today by phone to talk about the future of housing in Nevada. Congresswoman Lee has worked across party lines to secure funding push back on proposals that would benefit Nevada families and fight for real solutions. Whether you're a homeowner, a renter, or someone trying to buy their first home, you'll want to stick around for today's show. Good morning. Congresswoman Lee, how are you?

Susie Lee 2:24
Hi, good morning. Hi Heidi, hi Roland, thank you so much for having me. Sorry I couldn't be in person. Hey, we

Heidi Griffith 2:32
get it. We understand completely. Thank you for being here. I know your time is pressing, so there's a lot happening right now, isn't there, both in Nevada and Washington, yeah,

Susie Lee 2:43
I know absolutely. I mean the Senate just voted to pass this bill. I call it the big bold bill. We get it, but it will mean 700 or $7 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade for our state. We already you know, you as mortgage lenders and in the real estate industry, you obviously know that access to health care is a big, big issue when people are making the decision to relocate to Nevada and our doctor shortage will only get worse with these cuts. We're going to see rural hospitals close. Nursing homes are going to struggle. They're already struggling. But more importantly, over 100 and almost 115,000 Nevadans will lose their health coverage because of these cuts. So not a good not good news for the state of Nevada, for sure.

Heidi Griffith 3:48
Yeah, can you, can you give us that number again, with how many people we anticipate losing their health care?

Susie Lee 3:55
It's, I think it's 140 about 115,000 will will lose their health care, and Medicaid will be cut about $7 billion approximately $700 million a year for the next 10 years. Wow.

Heidi Griffith 4:15
Not good news. Not good news at all. Not good

Susie Lee 4:18
news. And you know, many people who were able to take advantage of tax credits to purchase health care with the Affordable Care Act, those are gone. Any type of funding to support residential solar will end. So if you were thinking about installing residential solar you should go do it like today. And yeah, so, you know, not good news on that front. But listen, if you're among the wealthiest Americans in this country, it is good news because you'll be rewarded

Heidi Griffith 4:58
with tax cuts. I guess it's. Doesn't help me?

Susie Lee 5:01
Yeah, it'll come on the backs of the the poorest Americans and so and states like ours will struggle, particularly with access to health care. So it's not good,

Heidi Griffith 5:18
no, not a good day at all. Not a good day at all well, with all of that, I mean, really, there's not much that we can just transition into something else, because that is the big news today. But let's, let's kind of talk about what you've been doing for this state, in the state, when we're talking about housing and that type of stuff, you good with that?

Susie Lee 5:38
Yep, great. Oh yeah. I mean that obviously is a huge issue our housing crisis. What we're doing to try to get resources here absolutely and

Heidi Griffith 5:48
affordable housing, 100% that's what we work on daily. So, yep, so we know that we're one of the most federally owned states in the country, right? More than 80% of our land is managed by federal agencies, and we're dealing with water scarcity, conservation needs and permitting that's going to just stretch out for years, and we know that our housing market needs additional investment and additional land for home building. So can you share how you're working in Congress to support new home construction on federal land while we're still actually protecting that land and our water resources?

Susie Lee 6:21
Yes, absolutely. I mean, it's a it's a big issue, obviously, affordable housing. But in a state like Nevada, where we have a significant amount of land that's federally controlled, it's tied to what's happening in Washington, and we have a bill. We have a process in Nevada, called the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, snima. And this has been sort of the law of land transfers for several decades. It was passed by Senator Harry Reid, which basically says, we take all the input of the community, of all the stakeholders, and certain segments of land will be for conservation, certain segments will be for development. And when you dispose of land, that money stays in Nevada to be used to build parks, to build water delivery, resources, conservation, and so that's currently in existence, but we need to update that bill, and I'm working with Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. We call it the Southern Nevada economic development and Conservation Act, but to call it be short, it's the Clark County lands bill, and under this bill, it will allow Clark County to develop up to 25,000 acres over the next 50 years using the same process that we've used under snip Lamont, but it will also set aside about 2 million acres for outdoor recreation, wildlife life, conservation, cultural and landscape preservation, and so we're working on that. But the bottom line is, so many anyone as you know who goes to develop land, or here in Nevada, it takes years, and so we have got to eliminate some of the red tape, and we have to streamline the process so that people can, you know, if you have a project, it doesn't take you six years from conception to putting a shovel in the ground, which is sometimes, I've heard from developers, that's what it does. Because we have a shortage of about 78,000 housing units, and that is what that's one of the factors driving up the cost of housing. It's a supply and demand issue, and so I was just able to pass a bill called the ACE act. This was a bipartisan bill. The governor endorsed it. It was supported by all sorts of stakeholders, from the Chamber of Commerce to the League of Conservation Voters, and it basically allows for land transactions to happen quicker, making sure that you have access to appraisers that are qualified in every state prior to my bill being passed, if you you could only appraise land in the state with which you had a license, and under my bill, it expands it, so if you're licensed in Utah, if you're licensed in Nevada, you can appraise federal land. It doesn't matter what state it's in. So, you know, it's one of those steps to eliminate a bottleneck. We still need to keep working on permitting reform so that we can get this land into development and get houses built faster, and obviously taking into account the local stakeholder input.

Roland Daniels 9:54
And while we're talking about BLM, you recently questioned, I think Secretary. Program about staffing and budget cuts at the Bureau of Land Management, right? So considering, considering BLM handles permitting on much of the federal land, how would these cuts affect housing and infrastructure project approvals? Right here in Nevada,

Susie Lee 10:22
listen, I mean, you need people to process the applications, to go through the process. So I, you know, I had a very good back and forth with the secretary. He acknowledged that the way that we do land management in Southern Nevada is model for the country, which was great. But, you know, I asked him, if you know you're cutting the BLM staff by 25% but it's those very people that you're relying on to process the permitting and to get things rolling in a faster way. So I think they have it a little backwards, you know, cut the staff, and then maybe they'll catch up. I'd say, catch up, get a process, become more efficient, and then cut the staff and so. But you know, we've received some confirmation from the Secretary that what we're doing in Nevada is the right way to do land development. We just need the people to do it. Well,

Heidi Griffith 11:25
that's good to hear. I'm glad that we're doing things right. Thank you. And so there's been some concern with the Trump era policies, right? So we've got tariffs, we've got immigration changes coming, and you know the word is that's going to push housing costs higher.

Susie Lee 11:44
Absolutely. So, yeah, when you think about the cost of housing, we call it three L's, land, labor and lumber, and let's so we know that the tariffs, a new estimate, my economic analysis done, says that these tariffs on lumber, steel, et cetera, aim to increase the cost of housing construction by $11,000 per home. I mean, these are obviously moderately priced homes. Your average home sale labor, you're obviously seeing a crackdown on illegal immigration, which you know we all believe that our borders should be secure, but you are starting to see ice and raids come into communities going after some of our laborers. And let me be clear, if you are here in illegally and you commit a crime, you should be deported. But what we are seeing is fear in our communities. The people who are here legally, they have a their protected status, they have a green card, they're trying to work. They're trying to do it the right way. And we have had incidents where they've gotten wrapped up in this whole deportation press by the Trump administration. In fact, you know the Trump administration, even Trump came out and said, you know, we need to make sure we take care of our agriculture workers and our hospitality workers. So he understands that, you know, there's a tie between employment and making sure we have the workers that we need to build the homes as well as, you know, the labor or, I mean, the lumber to build the homes. And then, of course, land sales. And the most important thing about that is making sure we're becoming more efficient and that we're putting land into development that obviously takes into account the environmental impact, but that we can do it in a quicker way, so that, if you're a developer, you can, for you know, from conception to shovel in the ground, you can move that process along and get these homes built that we need for affordable housing, right?

Roland Daniels 14:07
And you've been named one of the most bipartisan members of Congress, and with all of the back and forth in the Senate over amendments and procedural rulings, How has working across the aisle, helped you secure results for Nevada, especially when it comes to housing infrastructure and water right here.

Susie Lee 14:30
Oh, my goodness, well, yeah, I mean, you know what's happening right now in Washington with this bill, it is a purely partisan exercise. There is no bipartisanship involved here, unfortunately, and it generally happens when one party has the House and the Senate in the presidency, and so that's what's happening right now, by the way, the Biden administration and Democrats did it when we. Passed the largest investment in climate change in history with the inflation Reduction Act. A lot of those provisions are now being erased under this bill. But you know, this will pass. I mean this bill, I expect that the House will fall in line and they'll pass the bill, and the President will sign it, and then we got to get to work. And we have to continue to work on permanent reform. We have to continue to work on making sure that we are investing in our communities and water conservation, you know, and one of my biggest achievements has been passing the ACE Act, which accelerates the appraisals of land again to try to get the process moving quicker so we can get more affordable housing built faster. And you know, I'm going to go back, I mean, Mark Amadeus, when he introduced a bill or an amendment as part of this beautiful BS bill process. You know, I helped defeat it because it basically would have allowed for the sell off of public lands without no any local input. It had no mention of affordable housing. However, I you know that got killed, by the way, it got killed in the House version. There was another version by Senator Mike Lee that would have sold off all sorts of public land across the West that got killed as well. And so that's the good news. It did not get included in reconciliation. But we still have a process, and we still have to pass our lambs bill. And so I'm hoping, you know, I'm working with Mark Amadeus as we speak, he has the Northern Nevada lands bill. We want to pass the Southern Nevada lands Bill, you know, but by by God speaking by guns, we got to keep moving forward, because we have a housing crisis to solve, and we have to get houses built, and we have to get affordable housing built.

Heidi Griffith 17:08
I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more. So Nevada faces water challenges, right? Let's talk about water for a second. We're the driest state. We are relying on a shrinking Colorado River, and we know that Lake Mead is at historic lows, right? So housing has an impact on water. We need more water for more housing. How have you been working to bring federal dollars back here for water infrastructure, and what changes are Nevadans starting to see right here at home?

Susie Lee 17:35
Well, you know, as part of the inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill, we brought billions of dollars in water conservation projects across the West. Right now, what's happening is the seven states that rely on the Colorado River are in negotiations. We know that all of us have got to come together. I just want to we have to give a shout out to ourselves and pat ourselves on the back, because Southern Nevada recycles every drop of water that we use in our homes, and we are a model for conservation, and Southern Nevada only draws about 3% off of the Colorado River. And, and not only that, you know, we are a leader and, and, you know, we invested in what we call the third straw, the big straw, you know, making sure that we built an intake pipe that was deep enough so that we can continue to get water out of Lake Mead. But Arizona and California, they have to come together, and we all collectively have to agree to a level of conservation and cuts on the river. Because basically, when the compact was signed and all the states agreed to what they would draw off the river was about 16 and a half million acre feet in a in a normal year, you only have about 12 and a half acre feet flowing down the river, so the river was already over subscribed. And then on top of it, you have climate change, and you're seeing this is probably going to, you know, it's a low snow pack year in the Rocky Mountains, which will mean there will be less water flowing through the Colorado River. So it's imperative that all these states come together and reach an agreement, which is happening right now. If they do not come to an agreement, if they are not able to compromise, the federal government will issue a decision, and then it will be tied up in courts for a long time. And so my hope is that i. And all of us can figure out that it's our collective best interest to come together and come up with a plan where we can, each, you know, have suffer a little paid I will say that Nevada, you know, Southern Nevada, has done our part for sure. Another thing that I just want to point out as part of the infrastructure bill, I passed a bill called the large scale water recycling Act, which is a bill that the federal government will support investment into water recycling plants like the one that is being built in LA by LA Metro, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is investing in it, they will recycle the water, and in return for our investment, we will be able to keep enough water for half a million homes in Lake Mead. So you know, those are the types of innovative partnerships that we need to continue to work on to make sure we're all doing our part, not just to conserve, but that we're being innovative about reusing and recycling as well.

Heidi Griffith 21:08
That's great to hear. That's great. I'm glad that's on the on the minds, and that we're moving forward with that we need it,

Susie Lee 21:15
right? Yep, yeah, absolutely. Well, well,

Heidi Griffith 21:19
Congresswoman Lee, I want to thank you again for joining us today. We really do appreciate you taking your time out, especially while everything else is going on. We really do. We know how packed your schedule is this week, we hope that we can actually get you to come back on the show, maybe be in the studio. That would be great, because I know that you play a big role in housing where we're at, and that's important to us, and you do a lot of great things with veterans as well. So thank you. Before we wrap up, if there's one thing that you'd like to encourage it Nevadans to do, or maybe to just pay closer attention to give it that, give us that, what would that be? I

Susie Lee 21:56
mean, listen, I you know, I think that this is a time of unprecedented division in our country, and a lot of people seem to get stuck behind the keyboard and like to, you know, throw incendiary statements and thoughts out into the universe. I might, you know, people always say to me, how are we going to repair this? And I say it starts in your own families, in your own neighborhoods. You know, reach out and have the tough conversations with people and understand why people feel the way they do. Because, you know, you can never solve a problem with anyone unless you have a relationship with them, and you can't have relationships with people unless you actually talk to them and and so I just say it starts in your own neighborhood. It starts in your own family, if you want to, you know, repair the divisiveness in this country, you know, bring it home a little bit and practice some of that in your own little in your own little universe. And if we can all build on that, hopefully we will all grow something and start to work together better and solve the problems that our country is facing.

Heidi Griffith 23:14
I love that. That's great. So yeah, let's start in our own backyards. I agree 100% thank you again. All right. Thank you very much.

Susie Lee 23:22
Thank you. Have a

Susie Lee 23:24
great year. Have a great day.

Heidi Griffith 23:27
Bye. Before we wrap up today's show, we want to talk about something that affects every single person listening. Your right to fair housing. Every week we highlight the work of Silver State Fair Housing Council, where both Roland and I proudly serve on the board. We do. I'm honored to be the current vice president, and I can tell you, this organization is doing real hands on work to protect people in our community.

Roland Daniels 23:50
The Silver State Fair Housing Council is the reason that many people right here in Nevada don't just hope for equal treatment in housing. They get it. They work to eliminate housing discrimination through enforcement, outreach and education, whether you're buying, renting, applying for a mortgage or just seeking accessible housing, they make sure that your rights are protected. They

Heidi Griffith 24:19
do, don't they they do. They do, and one of the most important tools they use is their Tester program. This is how they uncover discrimination that isn't always obvious or easy to prove. Testers are trained volunteers who pose as renters or buyers, and they document how they're treated in real world scenarios. So it's a strategic way to gather evidence needed to expose the challenges and unfair practices.

Roland Daniels 24:45
It's a powerful way to make a difference, because if two people can go to view the same apartment and one is told that it's no longer available because of how they look or speak or. Who they are. That's discrimination.

Heidi Griffith 25:03
It is, and this kind of work is the work that matters. It's not just about one person, it's about our entire community, because when housing isn't fair, nothing else can be school access, job opportunities, your ability to build wealth. It all starts where you live.

Roland Daniels 25:19
If you've ever wanted to do something that truly makes a difference, this is your chance. You can get involved in the tester program, and we do need you, and it will help make sure that housing in Nevada is fair and equitable for everyone. Yes, you just don't need training or a little time, and the willingness to stand up

Heidi Griffith 25:44
couldn't agree more. So if you're interested or you have fair housing concerns or questions, you can actually give Silver State Fair Housing a call. Their telephone number is 702-749-3288. Again, the Silver State Fair Housing Council's telephone number is 702-749-3288, you can also visit them online, there at s, s, f h c.org, you'll find info on your rights, how to file a complaint and even how to become A tester. Again, that's s, s, f h c.org, because Fair Housing isn't optional, it's the law, and it's worth all of us fighting for. So we covered a lot today, didn't we? We did point. Yeah, housing policy just doesn't live in DC or city hall. It doesn't it lives in our neighborhoods, in our mailboxes and in the monthly bills we try to pay. So whether you're renting, owning or dreaming of your very first home, you deserve to be part of this conversation. I

Roland Daniels 26:47
agree. We'll be back next Sunday morning at 7:30am right here on K, U, n, b, 91.5, until then, believe in what's possible, even if you've been told that it's out of reach. And remember, stay true to yourself and your mind Bye.

Music 27:08
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