Housing

Where you live can critically affect your quality of life, including health, security, and education. Stable, sufficient housing that meets a household’s needs encourages connections with neighbors, can lower crime rates, and instill a sense of pride. However, a lack of safe, reliable, and efficient housing can have the opposite effect, causing neighborhoods to deteriorate as residents leave for other areas and businesses decline or exit.

Affordability

While our community is often considered an affordable place to live, a closer look at rental costs shows that is not true for all. To afford a two-bedroom apartment, a resident in our community would need to make more than $22 an hour.

Nearly half of local renters are spending too much on housing. It is recommended that less than 30% of a household’s income be spent on housing costs. In our community, about 45% of renters exceed this threshold. Among homeowners, only 18% spend more than 30% of their income on their home and related expenses.

Housing Quality

Iowa and Nebraska have some of the lowest rates of housing problems in the country. Iowa ranks third and Nebraska ranks sixth. Compared to other states, both have fewer households facing severe housing problems, defined as occupied units with at least one of the following problems: lack of complete kitchen facilities, lack of plumbing facilities, overcrowding, or severely cost-burdened occupants.

However, people of color are disproportionately impacted by housing problems. While Nebraska only has 12% of occupied housing units experiencing severe housing problems, there is a racial disparity among those impacted.

Homeownership

Racial disparities in homeownership exist in our community. White residents own homes at a rate approximately 40% higher than Black residents and 17% higher than Hispanic residents.

In the Omaha area, Black homeownership rates fall below the national average by about 10%. Homeownership rates among Hispanic and white residents are similar to national averages.

Homelessness

Since 2015, percentages have increased for people who are chronically unhoused and those who are unhoused with mental illness.

Based on point-in-time counts, the Omaha area has fewer people who are unhoused per capita than similar Midwestern cities.