LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Since the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of Las Vegas Valley families were evicted from their homes, according to the Princeton Eviction Lab.
Clark County has one of the highest eviction rates in the country.
Patricia Glissman was evicted from her home last week. She only had the clothes on her back and her dog.
“I was taken for my money, $800 of it, and was told to get out,” Glissman recalled. “I had to go out and try to buy some clothes from Walmart.”
The money she did have went to food and a room at the Longhorn Casino and Hotel. With no money, even with a job, she made the decision to leave the city she loves.
“There’s something about this town that just pulls me. I love this town, but obviously, it doesn’t love me,” Glissman said. “I don’t have money to stay anywhere but if I stay I’m going to be out on the streets. I really don’t want that.”
The Princeton Eviction Lab gathers data and information about evictions across the country. Their researchers found Clark County eviction rates surpass bigger cities like Houston.
Clark County landlords filed 3,911 in January 2025 alone, 20 percent more than before the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last year, Clark County saw a 13 percent eviction filing rate, nearly double the national average.
Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada Consumer Rights Attorney Nicholas Haley listed the different reasons someone might be evicted.
“There’s what is called lease violation where you break the terms of your lease. There’s nuisance where, perhaps, you committed a crime and they evicted you on that basis. There is what’s called tenancy-at-will where you’re just a house guest and you never paid rent. They evicted you because you overstayed your welcome. Then finally, there’s what’s called a no cause eviction and that’s simply ‘we want the property back and we don’t have a lease with you.’ We’re just asking you to leave,” Haley said.
Haley added the most common reason someone might be evicted is for not paying rent or “non-payment of rent.”
UNLV Assistant Social Work professor Dr. Nicholas Barr pointed to a number of factors as to why eviction rates are high, including unemployment rates that are higher than the national average and low affordable housing.
“You have not a lot of new housing being built and the housing that is being built is market housing, not earmarked for people who are low income. We’re 80,000 affordable housing units short,” Dr. Barr explained.
On top of that, rent prices have shot up but renters’ wages have stayed the same overall.
“People are paying almost half of their gross monthly income on rent,” added Dr. Barr. “Eviction is one of the key causes of homelessness, already a problem here.”
He also pointed to a number of ways the Nevada Legislature can keep people from being evicted, and therefore, off the streets like passing a law that would require a landlord and their tenant to meet with a mediator before going to eviction court.
“Other places that have done mediation approaches have shown to be good, meaning that the landlord ends up getting paid their rent and the individual doesn’t get evicted.”
Assembly Bill 280 could help seniors, like Glissman, and those with disabilities stay in their homes. If the bill passes, it would keep a landlord from raising rent more than 10 percent. Governor Lombardo vetoed a similar bill during the 2023 legislative session.
“The other thing, we must build affordable housing,” Dr. Barr urged. “We have to earmark housing for working people who are low-income.”
There are a number of bills making their way through the legislature aimed at creating more affordable housing units. Senate Bill 51, for example, would reimburse city and county governments that make it cheaper for companies building affordable housing complexes.
“Housing has gotten a lot more expensive in the Las Vegas Valley, particularly in the last five to ten years,” Haley continued. “When people are out of a home, replacing their housing is more priority because we don’t want to see people be homeless,”
Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada hosts Tenants’ Rights and Eviction Sealing classes a couple of times a month to educate renters on what to do before and after receiving an eviction notice. Haley taught a couple of those classes this week.
“If we cannot prevent the eviction, we at least try to help them find a soft landing where they end up somewhere besides the streets because that’s a very difficult life.”
The organization also holds free 15-minute “Ask-A-Lawyer” consultation calls. The one geared for landlord/tenant issues are held weekly.
With limited time and limited resources, Glissman made the decision to move in with her son in Winnemucca. Until the Las Vegas Valley becomes more affordable for her again, she’s saying ‘goodbye…for now.’
“It’s time to go,” Glissman sighed. “Hopefully, maybe, I’ll be back. I don’t know. I hope so because I really love this city.”
Clark County and a few other organizations have rental assistance programs.
Once a tenant has been evicted, it’s often difficult to fine another place to live. Haley said there are situations in which someone can have an eviction removed from court records.
“There are statutes that allow you to seal an eviction if it was denied or if it was dismissed by the court. There are other laws that allow you to dismiss an eviction that occurred during the COVID-19 emergency, which ended May 20, 2022. There’s a catch all provision whereby if it’s in the interest of justice to seal your eviction. You can request that from the court. Depending on your circumstances, if it was somehow unfair that your eviction is still visible to the public, you can request the court seal it.”
Haley also listed examples he’s seen for the more vague ‘in the interest of justice’ reason to seal an eviction.
“For example, you’re in the hospital for an extended period, and therefore you couldn’t respond to your eviction notice. You were evicted while in the hospital. You come back later and show you were in the hospital and you weren’t available for the court appearance or to respond to your landlord.”
Haley said he’s seen evictions sealed because of domestic violence in the household and one of the tenants had to move out on an emergency basis.
“It is very fact specific, but you want to show that it was circumstances beyond your control,” Haley emphasized. “It wasn’t simply ‘I lost my job, and therefore I had no money to pay the rent.’”
Haley said the longer someone waits to have their eviction sealed in the interest of justice, the better.
“At six years, any eviction matters should be sealed. You should check your records to see whether or not they are in fact sealed in that amount of time because sometimes it doesn’t get sealed automatically. Generally speaking, time plus circumstances equals your basis for an eviction sealing.”
Court records aren’t the only way landlords can discover an eviction. Credit reports will also display if someone owes a landlord.
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