Every two years, lawmakers and lobbyists from Las Vegas pack up their lives and move more than 400 miles to Carson City for the Nevada Legislative Session – and it’s a mad dash to find a place to live.
Democratic Assemblymember Cecelia González thought winning her seat in 2020 would be difficult, but what came next was equally challenging: finding housing. She started her search long before the session even began, following her win in the June Primary. She struggled to afford rent in two different places, her home in Las Vegas and the state capital.
“I’ll never forget this. It was the first day of session and my bank account is literally negative, and I’m asking around, like, when do we get paid? I had to use all my funds to move up there. I couldn’t even go and buy coffee for a community event,” González said.
González is a public-school teacher, so she has to take unpaid time off from her regular job. She said she’s lucky to have lived in the same place during the last three sessions. Even though rent has increased from $2,200 to $2,650 for a two-bedroom unit of a duplex. But others sleep in hotels, find roommates, or even move up with their RV. As a new mom of a one-year-old, Gonzalez wants stability, so she finds herself reaching out to her Carson City landlord.
“After I win either my primary or my election, I reach out to her, letting her know that I’m interested in staying again, and so I’m fortunate in that regard,” González said. “I had my dog Zero, that added another layer of having to find a spot. I got married. I’m not really doing the roommate thing anymore. I have a husband, and I have a baby.”
During the session, state assembly members are paid at least $12,400 due to state law and state constitution. That’s lower than the national annual average salary of $44,320, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Nevada lawmakers can also receive up to $10,000 in travel costs, including for moving, housing and furniture rentals, and travel for legislative business, but it only goes so far. The average rent in Carson City is between $1,200 to $1,500, according to real estate websites.
But what about those who don’t get that legislative stipend?
When Annette Magnus worked as a lobbyist for a nonprofit, there wasn’t much money.
“I would come up and literally couch surf. I would go to supporters’ homes. I would go to volunteers’ homes and stay at night so I could rent a car. Or conversely, I would do an Airbnb where there were multiple people in the house. Looking back on it, it probably wasn’t the safest thing to do, but we were desperate. I had to be up here. If you’re not in the building, it’s kind of like you don’t exist,” Magnus said.
Magnus did eventually find a furnished place to live, but that was all upended in January. Her landlord told her the property was still under repair from flooding. It left her scrambling to find a new place to sleep. She found housing for rent for $2,000 but had to spend an additional $3,000 on furniture. The Carson City rent is more than her $1,500 mortgage in Las Vegas.
She’s found peace in having a place to herself, surrounded by decor that reminds her of home, like the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. She’s now the one allowing a lobbyist friend to crash at her place.
When Jim Reid bought his home in Carson City seven years ago, it came with an unlikely tenant in the studio on the property – former Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske. Reid and his wife never intended to rent it out, but when Cegavske left office in 2023, she gave Reid’s number to newly elected Democratic Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar. Reid said he knows how hard it is to find housing during the session, so renting to Aguilar felt like the right thing to do.
“Not that we’re doing a whole lot, but, my heart, I feel we’re helping out the people coming up here to do the government work,” Reid said. “I know it’s a necessary evil that has to get done. We’re helping out in that process.”
Support may be on the horizon. In an effort to help with housing costs, lawmakers are currently considering bipartisan legislation to create an independent commission to potentially increase state legislator pay. It will need to pass the next legislative session and be approved by voters in 2028.
