LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A sweeping housing bill passed Congress with an overwhelming bipartisan majority.
It became law on Friday, albeit without the signature of President Donald Trump, who was protesting the fact that the Senate wouldn't pass an unrelated election measure.
So now what?
The head of the Las Vegas Association of Realtors warned Monday that people should not expect big changes right away.
WATCH | Senior political reporter Steve Sebelius explains what changes locals could see and when:
"I personally don't see a short-term change," George Kypreos said. "These type of bills that make their way through, it might take several years for it really to affect inventory here. I think the major callout is the goal is to open up more construction, make it easier for builders to develop, maybe less red tape, which would bring more inventory to market."
But housing doesn't come in an instant. Developers have to find land, buy it, get permits and actually build homes, a process that can take months if not years.
The sprawling, 139-page bill does contain some incentives that are designed to speed development and to make homes more affordable.
They include a pilot program under the Department of Housing and Urban Development to expand access to mortgages of less than $100,000; prioritize HUD projects in Opportunity Zones; streamline environmental reviews for housing projects; a pilot program to help local governments convert vacant commercial or industrial space to affordable housing; help veterans get loans by excluding disability payments from their income eligibility for HUD or Veterans Administration supportive housing programs; and restrict the purchase of single-family homes by corporate investors, which could prevent individuals with mortgage financing from being outbid by corporations.
Some of those programs were highlighted by HUD Secretary Scott Turner in an interview with Channel 13 back in March.
Kypreos said some of the programs could actually increase competition for available homes.
"If you increase the opportunity of financing, you increase the marketplace, right? That's more people [who] will be able to purchase," he said. "But that might not lead to more affordability, if you allow more folks the access to financing, and more people can get told yes when they go to apply, there will be more competition and that could prop prices up."
By the same token, building a large number of new homes could drive prices down, Kypreos said.
"Putting a whole bunch of more rooftops in and dropping prices would harm the folks that are counting on the equity in these homes," he said. "I think Realtors are looking for a slow and steady growth approach, you know."
Kypreos added: "And what we want, we need higher wages. I mean, we need our jobs, we need our local economy, we need our tourism and all the different things that have always worked in Las Vegas to continue to work. If folks can make a little more, they can afford a little more. Then everybody wins."
Benefit for modular homes
The bill also contains a provision that removes a requirement for modular, manufactured homes to be fitted with a permanent chassis, so it can be moved.
That was good news to the people at North Las Vegas' Boxabl, which makes modular homes that can be set up quickly.
Christian Kirchen, Boxabl's director of manufacturing, said the change will help.
"First of all, removing the chassis may make the product overall more appealing," he said. "Today, those HUD homes, they still have that stigma, it's a trailer home, and a lot of times they can only be found in mobile home parks."
In addition, he said, "The cost is a factor, because not having the chassis can eliminate quite a bit of the cost as well, so that may help on the local zoning approvals where the product can be used."
Boxabl does business in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and rules are different everywhere. That creates issues for manufacturers and increases costs for customers.
"With every state having their own regulations, it's a huge challenge, and every program is a little bit different, how they do things," Kirchen said. "It goes through a lengthy review process that takes way too much time, sometimes over a year, to get through all this by the state, and then in addition you have the inspection in the factory for every single unit."
It's that red tape — and not a shortage of homes — that's the real issue, one that can't be directly addressed by federal legislation.
"The supply of housing is honestly not the problem. To manufacture a house is incredibly easy," Kirchen said. "It's all the regulatory nightmare in between. Everybody wants to chime in. Nobody is responding in a timely manner. It takes months, sometimes years, literally years, to get one house approved in your backyard, and it's just because of all the nightmare in between."