Carson City affordable housing project ‘Sierra Flats’ to break ground Thursday
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Tue, 08/30/2022 - 10:40am
The long-awaited affordable housing project known as ‘Sierra Flats’ will be hosting a groundbreaking ceremony at its site in Carson City on Thursday, which will be attended by both Carson City Mayor Lori Bagwell, as well as Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak.
Following the project being granted a subordination agreement by the Carson City Board of Supervisors earlier this month, Sierra Flats construction will officially begin in September.
The project was originally supposed to break ground in March, and then June, but ran into multiple obstacles associated with a lumber shortage, rising costs and securing funding.
The project, located off of Airport Road and Butti Way, will be constructed in two phases which, when finished, will provide 160 units specifically for individuals with lower incomes — 120 units for families and 40 units for seniors.
The rents will be directly tied to income for the area, fighting against price gouging and increased rent costs currently seen throughout the region and nationwide.
Average rental prices are expected to be between $450 and $1,150 a month. The project is intended for seniors and families whose income is not more than 60 percent of the Carson City median gross income, according to developers.
Average rents in northern Nevada have jumped 89 percent in the last seven years, from below $900 to $1,680, according to the real estate appraisal and consulting firm Johnson Perkins Griffin.
“These dramatic cost increases have left Nevadans facing the greatest challenge in finding affordable housing in the nation,” said developers. “According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, Nevada has a shortage of more than 84,000 affordable rental homes for extremely low-income renters. There are only 20 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in the state.”
Carson City acquired the property for this project in 1960 and requested proposals from developers for an affordable housing project in January 2019.
The land was conveyed to the Sierra Flats developers earlier this year so construction could begin.
“The Sierra Flats project will bring much-needed relief to low-income renters in Carson City who have struggled to keep up with the rising cost of living here in northern Nevada,” Carson City Mayor Lori Bagwell said. “Public-private partnerships such as this are critical to ensure our community can continue to increase the number of available affordable housing units and create sustainable solutions for our housing crisis.”
The project will be built to "the rigorous National Green Building Standard (NGBS)," said developers, which requires independent, third-party verification that a building or development is designed and built to high performance in the following areas: site design, resource efficiency, water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and operation and maintenance. Sierra Flats will also include solar power to reduce tenant electricity costs and electric vehicle charging stations.
“Our company was created in direct response to the lack of affordable housing across the country,” Oikos Development Corporation President and CEO Michael Snodgrass said. “We want to provide beautiful, energy-efficient, and sustainable solutions for low-income families and their communities."
The project is being financed through State of Nevada Housing Division tax credits, the National Housing Trust Fund, and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program.
Sierra Flats is expected to be complete before the end of 2023.
