BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A new affordable housing development has been approved for the Leavenworth corridor in Omaha, offering some relief to renters in a neighborhood where costs have climbed alongside rapid development. But community leaders say the project, while welcome, is one piece of a much larger challenge.
The city's Planning Board has approved a 50-unit affordable housing project at Park Avenue and Pacific Street. The development will serve tenants 55 and older.
Laura Green, president of the Leavenworth Neighborhood Association, said the project's structure offers stability that standard market-rate housing does not.
"They can't suddenly increase rent a few years down the road, and that will be nice for the tenants," Green said.
Green said the neighborhood's rapid densification is a key driver of rising costs.
"What used to be there was single family homes, and they are being replaced by apartment complexes," Green said.
The city of Omaha's 2025 Housing Report cites a Harvard University study that found 47% of renters in the metro are spending over 30% of their income on rent. Green said the burden is especially heavy for lower- and middle-income families.
"Families that might be lower, middle income, it becomes very difficult when you are putting roughly 50 percent of your monthly income towards rent," Green said.
Christian Gray, co-executive director of InCommon, a nonprofit focused on housing development and community projects, said investment in the Leavenworth corridor has brought visible improvements — but at a cost.
"Over the last 15 years, we've seen a real investment in development. We'll see some really good improvements in the neighborhood, but the downside is that oftentimes things become too expensive for neighbors to afford," Gray said.
The approved project at Park Avenue and Pacific Street represents a step toward addressing that gap, but community leaders say sustained investment in affordable housing will be needed to keep the Leavenworth corridor accessible to the residents who have long called it home.
