Surge of evictions coming to Las Vegas Valley after protections expire, new resources available

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The Las Vegas Valley is about to see a surge in evictions as courtrooms are filled with eviction cases on their docket.

Justice courts across the Valley are already seeing jumps in caseloads. Since a crucial COVID-19 protection expired in June, landlords can proceed with evictions, even though a tenant applied for aid.

North Las Vegas Justice Court has seen a spike in evictions in recent weeks. The courts had to add more hours and days for cases. To help families, Nevada Legal Services launched a free clinic on Wednesdays; there was a line throughout the morning.

“There’s a slightly higher poverty rate in North Las Vegas. That’s generally where you see higher rates of eviction,” said John Brogden of Nevada Legal Services.

It’s a similar situation across the Valley and Nevada. Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada operates a clinic at the Regional Justice Center, which handles 70% of the state’s evictions. “We are seeing huge spikes. What used to be a busy day, 300 people coming in on evictions, now we are seeing over 400 to 500 a day. The people this is impacting by the sunsetting of these protections, the elderly, adults with disabilities, and then families who had fallen behind one to two months, they could have been helped,” said Jonathan Norman, policy director of the Nevada Coalition for Legal Service Providers.

Norman and other housing advocates lobbied for two bills that did pass the Nevada Legislature; AB340 would have changed summary eviction procedures to given tenants more time to respond to a notice. SB355 would have enabled provisions to allow the disabled and seniors to avoid eviction while they apply for rental aid.

Lombardo vetoed both, stating AB340 would “make our summary eviction process more time-consuming,” and SB355 would have made the shortage of rentals even worse.

“We have cases where people will be evicted, and their rental assistance comes in the next week. It’s too late,” Norman said.

Nevada Legal Services offers support in North Las Vegas Justice Court from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesdays. For more information on NLS, click here: Nevada Legal Services

Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada operates a Self-Help Center in the Regional Justice Center. For more information, click here: LACSN

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