Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto at a 171-unit senior housing complex, the kind of project both lawmakers say their bipartisan housing bill is designed to multiply. The two toured the West Sahara Senior Living Community, built for residents 55 and older, as they discussed a piece of federal legislation they argue could ease a shortage of nearly 78,000 affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income tenants.
Warren joined Cortez Masto to tour the development, according to FOX5 Vegas, which first reported the visit. The station reported that the senators discussed their bipartisan bill, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which passed this summer and which the lawmakers say aims to help build more affordable homes by cutting red tape, improving existing federal programs and authorizing new grant programs.
The complex the senators visited is no small project. Per the Las Vegas Review-Journal, West Sahara Senior Housing is a $50.5 million, 171-unit community on Sahara Avenue between Cimarron Road and Buffalo Drive. Rents start at $573 a month, including utilities, serving residents with annual incomes starting at $21,000, and the property includes one- and two-bedroom units alongside a pool and spa, a fitness center, and health and wellness facilities. More than $34 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit financing helped fund the project, the paper's reporting notes.
A Statewide Shortage Driving the Push
Cortez Masto told reporters there's a lot in the legislation that will help homeownership, and said her current goal is to implement it in Nevada so residents statewide benefit. Warren, for her part, said she came to celebrate the work, see what it's producing, and talk with local people about what has to happen next.
The urgency behind that message shows up in the numbers. Nevada faces a shortage of nearly 78,000 affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income tenants, the Review-Journal's reporting states, while the state has only 16 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households, according to News 3 Las Vegas. The outlet also reported that the Nevada Housing Coalition estimated roughly 500,000 Nevada residents were seniors in 2023, with about 26% considered extremely low-income.
Other Senior Complexes Opening Across the Valley
Ovation Development cut the ribbon on Heirloom at Rome near the 215 and Decatur in the northwest valley, FOX5 Vegas reported, describing a $78 million complex with 276 income-restricted units for older adults, including 38 tiny homes. The two outlets gave differing occupancy figures for that complex months after it opened — FOX5 Vegas reported more than 180 units filled, while News 3 reported more than 182.
Further south, the same developer built Heirloom at Pebble, a 195-unit, 55-and-over property that opened in May with rents ranging from $573 to $1,377 a month, the Review-Journal reported in its coverage of that roughly $48 million project.
Federal Agencies and Legislation Behind the Push
At the federal level, the Departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development signed an agreement meant to make buying an affordable home easier, FOX5 Vegas reported, with the agreement aiming to streamline housing-standards processes, including environmental review, regulations and physical inspections. A Congressional Research Service summary tied to the legislation notes that the Senate passed H.R. 6644, the House-passed Housing for the 21st Century Act, with a substitute amendment incorporating provisions from the ROAD to Housing Act of 2025 and other legislation, according to Congress.gov.
For now, West Sahara has one-bedroom apartments, and rents at the complex start at $573 a month, including utilities. Whether the broader legislation translates into enough new units to meaningfully close Nevada's affordable housing gap remains to be seen, but the complex opened in 2024 and has 171 units.
