About US

Our mission is to create sustainable solutions through community awareness, capacity building, and advocacy to ensure housing options for all Nevadans.

Affordable Housing in Nevada

Every state in the U.S. lacks a sufficient supply of affordable housing for the lowest income residents, but Nevadans, more than any other state population, face the greatest challenge in finding affordable and available homes.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there are only 20 affordable and available rentals homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in Nevada.

Homeownership cost burdens are also a major concern to a growing share of residents. On any given day, there are more than 6,000 homeless individuals in Nevada, with thousands more in unstable housing.

Community Benefits

Communities thrive when people have access to stable, high quality, affordable housing. Pathways to economic mobility become achievable as education, health outcomes, safety rates, and overall engagement improve. Neighborhoods and communities become stronger and more secure. In short, everyone benefits.

The Nevada Housing Coalition is committed to raising awareness and building the capacity of our communities to create high-quality, dignified, and attainable housing for all Nevadans.

Working Toward Solutions

The purpose of the Coalition is to develop strategies and goals to address Nevada’s affordable housing shortfall through community action and policy changes.

We bring together stakeholders, community leaders and the private sector to collaboratively address the lack of affordable housing in the State and advance solutions for all Nevadans – our underserved communities, low income households, our seniors, our veterans, our workers, our children, all of us.

Together, we will work to ensure that every Nevadan has a safe, stable place to call home.

OuR Team

Christine Hess
Executive Director

Christine Hess serves as the Executive Director for the Nevada Housing Coalition. The Nevada Housing Coalition is a statewide, member-based, nonprofit working to promote and advance affordable housing for all Nevadans through education, advocacy, and collaboration. With a strong background in economic and community development, Christine is skilled at building strategic partnerships, creating cross-sector collaboration, and promoting policy advocacy for the affordable housing community in Nevada. Under Christine’s leadership, the Coalition has grown their relationships across the state and country, engaging with Nevada’s leaders, affordable housing professionals, local governments, nonprofits, private sector finance/developer/builders, and cross-sector partners like economic development and healthcare. Additionally, the Coalition has established itself as Nevada’s go-to for affordable housing education and information through monthly webinars and its annual conference.

Christine has a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Wyoming and holds a certification from National Development Council as an Economic Development Finance Professional. Christine has settled near family in Reno with her husband, a 4^th generation Nevadan, to take advantage of the outdoor recreation opportunities they love.

Amanda Lakin
Communications & Member Relations Manager

Amanda Lakin is the Communications and Member Relations Manager for the Nevada Housing Coalition, a statewide, member-based nonprofit working to promote and advance affordable housing for all Nevadans. Amanda has a strong administrative background and has worked in entertainment, agribusiness, and construction. Although new to the nonprofit and affordable housing sector, Amanda’s corporate and international experiences have developed her high-level communications skills. Additionally, her project coordination experiences have included the development and implementation of polices and procedures and the tracking of project data and outcomes. The diversity of projects has required a flexibility that is also needed in the affordable housing space. In her current role with the Nevada Housing Coalition, Amanda enjoys utilizing her creativity, meeting coordination, and writing skills to support the purposeful work of the Coalition and engage NHC members and non-members across Nevada’s diverse affordable housing ecosystem.

Amanda has a B.S. in Marketing Management from Bellevue University and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Juawana Grant
Project & Grant Coordinator

Juawana Grant serves as the Project and Grant Coordinator at the Nevada Housing Coalition working on a statewide capacity building project to promote and advance affordable housing across Nevada. Juawana recently returned to her hometown of Las Vegas after ten years in the Pacific Northwest working in supportive housing, harm reduction and diversion programs. She has significant experience providing direct services to chronically unhoused individuals from the streets to transitional, supportive, and independent housing. This path has fostered an impassioned commitment to the affordable housing movement, and Housing First models in particular. In addition to social services, she has built a range of skills in writing and communications support, event planning, and education and outreach for a variety of community-oriented and public health programs. She believes in fostering a culture of support, resource sharing and collaboration among organizations and is excited by the opportunity to do just that in her role at NHC.

Juawana has a B.A. in Cultural Studies from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies from the University of British Columbia Okanagan. She started her career in nonprofits at the Jean Nidetch Women’s Center at UNLV and is thrilled to be back home in Las Vegas making herself useful to the community that raised her.

OuR Board of Directors

The Nevada Housing Coalition’s founding board is comprised of industry experts in both the public and private sectors.
These individuals are dedicated to the expansion of affordable housing solutions for all Nevadans.