LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature gets a “low” score for progress so far this year on improving affordable housing options, State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha said Wednesday during an annual housing justice and lobbying event that drew about 100 advocates to the Unicameral.

“We are not keeping up,” Vargas said, adding that Iowa spends twice as much as Nebraska on affordable housing.

Carol Bodeen, director of policy for the Nebraska Housing Developers Association, was among others who offered a grim update: “We do feel concern.”

Their remarks come on the heels of a recent survey in which state legislators boosted affordable housing to among the top two priorities warranting action, said Sen. Wendy DeBoer of Omaha, who chairs the Legislature’s Planning Committee.

In addition, just last year a major state housing report proclaimed that Nebraska’s economic future hinges on solving the “housing crisis.”

Dozens of statewide experts and policymakers contributed to that Strategic Housing Framework report, which called for 35,000 new, affordable dwellings across Nebraska over five years. Committees are still working to help carry out goals.

Increased cost, low inventory

Affordable housing, as defined by the federal government, is that in which the occupant is paying no more than 30% of gross income for housing costs, including utilities.

Bodeen and others told the group that the increased cost to build new homes, low inventory of existing homes and out-of-state investors scooping up used houses to rent have put homeownership out of the reach of many Nebraska families.

Tracie McPherson of the nonprofit Omaha Habitat for Humanity framed it this way: On average, the sales price of a Habitat home in Omaha rose about $100,000 in just the last four years to about $240,000.

“It’s a different market than our grandparents experienced,” she said.

Bodeen said the state this year has not directed any “new” money toward affordable housing development for the most needy.

Vargas proposed legislation directing $60 million to various state housing trust funds designed to spur development, but Bodeen  noted that those measures have stalled.

She said that $25 million already in the Nebraska Affordable Housing Trust Fund is, under the Legislature’s budget proposal, to be shifted to funding pots for creation of rural workforce and urban, middle-income housing.

Bodeen said that while those funds indeed are helpful to working families, the affordable housing fund targets lower income households.

Two state lawmakers and a few leaders of nonprofit housing organizations were among those who spoke during a news conference. Participants of the annual Housing Affordability & Justice Lobby Day on Wednesday also learned more about ways to encourage action on matters ranging from legal protections for renters to preservation of affordable housing.

Eviction affects children

Erin Feichtinger, policy director for the Women’s Fund of Omaha, said the “worsening housing shortage has turned into an eviction crisis.”

Statewide, she said, the average number of evictions reported between 2016 and 2019 was 6,286 annually. In 2023, that number had risen to 10,989.

Feichtinger said a “staggering” number of Nebraska children are affected by eviction, and are most at risk for eviction before age 5.

“Do not give up hope,” DeBoer told the group, though she acknowledged disappointment that lawmakers chose not to move forward her personal priority, the Residential Tenant Clean Slate Act.

The measure was defeated a week ago by a filibuster, despite compromises to narrow its scope. Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar mounted the two-day filibuster, arguing that even the slimmed-down version of Legislative Bill 175 represented a “gimme” that would block landlords from learning about potential problems with tenants.

Under the act, a tenant facing an eviction notice that was dismissed or vacated would have been allowed to have that action sealed from public view. The compromise would have permitted the “clean slate” only once, and also dropped a controversial amendment to require jury trials in eviction cases.

The good news, DeBoer told the advocate group, is that lawmakers got closer this year to passage of the clean slate measure.

“I’m not done yet,” she said.

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. It is part of the national nonprofit States Newsroom. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.