EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the final installment of a series of articles giving an in-depth look at the state of affordable housing in Greater Omaha.
As building and housing costs continue to rise, city and state government agencies are looking to find unique ways to help close the gap.
In compliance with Nebraska bill LB866 – also known as the Municipal Density and Missing Middle Housing Act – the city of Omaha hired RDG Planning & Design to analyze data and engage with the community to create the Housing Affordability Action Plan (HAAP), released in late September.
“This is a broad and complex issue. There will be no one single solution to it,” said Amy Haase, the principal at RDG tasked with leading the study and developing a strategy.
“This is a starting point where we can build momentum and continue to find new and innovative ways to address housing challenges.”
Zoning Challenges
Arguably one of the biggest challenges for the city is zoning. Currently, 80% of residential zoning in Omaha is set aside for single-family lots, which excludes housing options such as townhouses, duplexes, cottages, and small family apartments.
The gap left by these restrictions has been nationally dubbed as the “missing middle,” and is a roadblock to creating diverse, healthy neighborhoods.
To demonstrate what a diverse neighborhood looks like – one that has a variety of housing options – Haase singled out the Dundee Neighborhood. She noted that if you were to drive around Dundee, you’d see plenty of single-family homes, but you’d also see single-family homes that have been retrofitted into small, multifamily homes.
“But, scale-wise, it fits with that single-family home that’s sitting next to it,” she said.
Another example is Seventy Five North Revitalization Corporation’s Highlander development. With the help of the state and city, Seventy Five North broke ground on the first phase of its development in 2015 and has since developed hundreds of homes, ranging from townhomes, rowhomes, duplexes, small apartment complexes, and soon, single family homes.
During its research, RDG confirmed that 67% of residents surveyed are interested in missing-middle housing options, like the ones Seventy Five North has been developing. But the zoning restrictions pose hurdles not easily cleared due to time constraints and finances.
RDG responded to this finding by suggesting five separate rezoning options that would open the doors for a variety of housing options in one to three years.
Missing Middle Cheat Sheet
While demand for a variety of homes is high, the report noted that there are few contractors or developers building these products.
“Omaha market and developers noted two main concerns. The first being hurdles to how these projects are financed. Second was uncertainty in the marketability of mixed-income projects to the broader public,” it said.
To that end, the HAAP suggests that the city partner with a developer to create a project that demonstrates how affordable housing projects can be successful.
The plan also suggests the creation of a “housing pattern book” that could solve two major issues: unfamiliarity with missing middle options and long wait times for city approval on projects.
The book would help developers understand missing middle options by providing specific, visual examples that showcase dimensions, zoning information, and financing information. And, because it would be created by the city, these examples could showcase pre-approved options, which could speed up project approvals.
Pre-approved options could also utilize modular construction, which could decrease build time, but Omaha currently lacks those types of manufacturing businesses.
Showcasing Infill Options
With much of Omaha zoned for single-home residences, Omaha by Design decided to spearhead an initiative to guide potential developers considering building single-family homes; Specifically in older neighborhoods in southeast Omaha near its urban core where infill is needed.
With the help of community partners Seventy Five North, Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture, Morrisey Engineering, Assistology, Blair Freeman Group, and B-Strategies, the Affordable by Design Housing Playbook was launched.
In the introduction, Omaha by Design Executive Director Scott Dobbe described the Playbook as “an open-source set of housing prototypes” to show homeowners and small developers what’s possible in the narrow lots that are common in older neighborhoods.
“What we’ve already done is a lot of the expensive, challenging work,” Dobbe said. “In a way, rather than [potential developers/homeowners] getting the ball at the five-yard line, we’ve teed it up for them, and they’re already at midfield.”
The team paid special attention to universal design and energy efficiency to extend the life cycle of homes.
Nationwide, the Playbook noted, fewer than 5% of living units are livable for individuals with moderate mobility issues, and less than 1% is available for those with wheelchairs.
Through discussions with local company Assistology, the team began to understand the wider scope of universal design, from those who have lifelong mobility challenges to temporary challenges to aging in place and growing families.
“Universal design recognizes that there’s a broad category of issues anyone may encounter,” Dobbe said.
Recognizing the cost of homeownership, both environmentally and fiscally, it enlisted Morrissey Engineering to help uncover practices that could offset cost upfront and/or long-term costs. For example: how building orientation can affect heat gain to minimize summer/fall energy consumption, while maximizing gain during the colder months, reducing furnace use.
Guided by what’s needed now, and what may be needed in the future, the group created four base designs – The Burdette, The Parker, The Patrick and The Blondo – that could then be paired with a variety of floor plans, features, and interior/exterior materials. Each floor plan is designed to be 100% accessible on the main level.
“That should be the baseline standard,” Dobbe said.
Seventy Five North will begin construction in 2023 on six single-family homes in its Highlander neighborhood that follow designs in the Playbook. The Playbook is available online.
State Initiatives
A lack of affordable housing is not strictly a Greater Omaha area problem; therefore, Nebraska receives financial aid from the U.S. government to help finance research and projects.
The Nebraska Investment Finance Authority (NIFA) acts as the mediary between the U.S. government and all the communities in Nebraska, providing direction as well as distributing funds through programs.
Programs include the Nebraska Affordable Housing Tax Credit Act (AHTC), the Multifamily Tax-Exempt Bond Program, the Collaborative Resource Allocation for Nebraska (CRANE) program, and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program – one of the biggest funding sources for affordable housing projects.
In 2021 alone, NIFA helped finance 20 affordable rental projects to the tune of $193.3 million, which included 294 units for those with special needs, 397 units for the elderly, and 259 units for families.
One of the most visible projects to receive LIHTC funding is Seventy-Five North’s Highlander Neighborhood. NIFA Executive Director Shannon Harner lauded the variety of housing offered as forward thinking.
“You want to stabilize people and provide them places to live, but you also want to help them grow towards the ability to become homeowners,” she said. “That’s what creates long-term and generational wealth.”
In August 2022 her organization embarked on developing a Statewide Strategic Housing Framework.
“We’re calling it a framework as opposed to a plan because it needs to be flexible,” Harner said.
Research is being facilitated by Colorado-based Wellstone Collaborative Strategies in collaboration with a council of Nebraska-based leaders in the housing sector, ranging from nonprofits to government entities. The process is expected to be finalized at the end of the year.
