Housing
AARP pitches in to help Omaha’s affordable housing plight
OMAHA — A national organization aimed at making life easier for the 50-and-older crowd has jumped in to do its part for Omaha’s affordable housing crunch. AARP’s Nebraska chapter recognizes that different residential options and designs can lighten the load for all ages, including those in or nearing retirement, said state director Todd Stubbendieck. He […]
Latest on emergency rent aid saga: Gov. Jim Pillen accepted the federal funds
LINCOLN — Bucking the stance of his predecessor, Gov. Jim Pillen has accepted what’s left of millions of dollars in emergency rent aid that the federal government had set aside for Nebraska’s 91 smaller counties. Earlier refusal by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts to tap the pandemic-related fund meant missed deadlines and the redirection of much of […]
State awards $520,000 to northeast Nebraska housing nonprofit
LINCOLN — A private nonprofit that develops housing in an eight-county area of northeast Nebraska has been awarded $520,000 from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. The federal funds awarded to NeighborWorks Northeast Nebraska come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME Investment Partnerships program. The DED administers the HOME program in […]
Lawmaker Vargas recaps this year’s highs and lows, looks ahead to ‘last hurrah’ in Legislature
OMAHA — At a town hall meeting Tuesday, State Sen. Tony Vargas said he was disappointed that so much of his 2023 legislative session was spent ”fighting on defense” against bills that he said hurt people in his district. The South Omaha lawmaker said that measures aimed at transgender youths and abortion restrictions, for example, […]
More than 2,600 Nebraska homeowners get help from $50 million pandemic relief fund
OMAHA — More than 2,600 Nebraska property owners have received an average of $13,418 to help stay in their homes since the state early last year launched the pandemic-related Nebraska Homeowner Assistance Fund. The program — which aimed to prevent Nebraskans from losing their houses over COVID-19 hardships — launched in February 2022 with a […]
Lawmakers ask Nebraska Pardons Board to speed up review of marijuana possession cases
LINCOLN — A refreshed Nebraska Pardons Board meets for the first time Thursday, adding a first-year governor and attorney general to a three-person panel that returns the secretary of state. The board, which has the state’s power to set aside criminal convictions and consequences, will consider the commutations of three criminal sentences, the pardons of […]
Enable program helps Nebraskans with disabilities and their families save for care
LINCOLN — Like many people caring for loved ones with developmental disabilities, Kurt and Melissa Kolm of Lincoln have worried whether the checks they deposited in a loved one’s bank account might eclipse the total assets allowed to remain eligible for public health and disability benefits. Melissa has an older sister with special needs and […]
Nonprofits share $7.5 million in state grants for urban ‘workforce housing’
LINCOLN — Three Nebraska nonprofits have been awarded a total of $7.5 million in state funds to create more affordable housing in urban parts of the state. The grants, which required at least a 50% match from the nonprofit, were announced this week and are the latest allotment from the state’s Middle Income Workforce Housing Investment […]
Front Porch nonprofit awards loans and grants to spark more Omaha-area affordable housing
OMAHA — Sixteen organizations collectively have been awarded $11 million in low-interest loans and grants to create more affordable housing in the Omaha area. Front Porch Investments said that its latest round of “Development and Preservation Fund” recipients, announced Thursday, should generate 221 dwellings and help launch four new housing programs and four planning grants. […]
Nearly $23 million doled out from Nebraska’s rural workforce housing fund
LINCOLN — Twenty-seven nonprofits in rural Nebraska will get a chunk of $22.8 million awarded from the state’s Rural Workforce Housing Fund. The grants were announced Thursday by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Signed into law in 2017 as part of the Rural Workforce Housing Investment Act, the fund created by the Nebraska Legislature […]
New vision for Omaha’s former Civic Auditorium site includes grocery store, offices, housing
OMAHA — A national grocer, affordable housing and a five-story office and retail building are key components of the latest multimillion-dollar plan for the former Civic Auditorium site in downtown Omaha. New renderings released Thursday show the Civic Square project as about nine acres filled with a parking structure, new roads and multiple buildings that […]
Why renting to subsidized tenants is good business for Nebraska — and every state
Across the Great Plains states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, nearly 79,000 households have a federal Housing Choice Voucher and have successfully used it to find a home. That’s a good thing. Why? Vouchers provide mobility and choice. They lift families out of poverty and into safe, affordable housing. They assist some of the […]