A woman paused her stroll through Omaha’s riverfront park to take in a peculiar sight. Among the walking paths and landscaped greenery, a small house stood just east of South Eighth Street. She peered through one of the home’s windows to get a better look.
That spark of curiosity meant the small structure was serving its purpose. The house was built and placed within one of the city’s most popular public spaces to advocate for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — a housing option that the city and a number of nonprofits say can help address Omaha’s affordable housing needs.
Abram Lueders, director of urban design with the nonprofit Omaha by Design, stood inside the house on a recent August afternoon and pointed to smudges on the windows.
“I walk by the site a lot and one of the fun things you can see is the windows have smudge marks because people are always walking up and putting their face against the windows to look in,” Lueders said.
An ADU is a small residence that shares a single-family lot with a larger, primary home. Also known as a mother-in-law house, the structures are meant to support independent living and must include features found within a typical home, including a kitchen and bathroom.
The ADU on the riverfront was designed by local architecture firm Alley Poyner Macchietto, which placed first in an AARP and City of Omaha “ADU for U” competition in 2023. Using that design, the city and a number of nonprofits partnered to build the dwelling as a public example of what an ADU could look like, Lueders said.
Several months after the competition, the Omaha City Council approved an ordinance that adjusted city zoning regulation to allow accessory dwelling units citywide and simplify the process for approving them.
City code allows for no more than one accessory unit per residential lot. It does not allow for a unit to be sold separately from the primary residence. There are also regulations on height and setbacks.
The changes to city code also accomplished a step outlined by Omaha’s Housing Affordability Action Plan, which outlines a need for an additional 30,000 housing units in the city by 2030, 60% of which is for affordable units.
There’s been a slight jump in interest since that zoning change. More than a dozen applications have gone through a conditional use permit process, said Eric Englund, assistant director of urban planning with the city.
“We think this is important as a more affordable housing option,” Englund said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s cheap to do.”
Construction costs have risen in recent years, and ADUs are no exception. Still, the smaller size tends to make the build more affordable for property owners, and it could potentially offer a second source of income as a rental unit, Englund said.
Generally, accessory dwelling units in Omaha cost between $100,000 and $200,000 to build, Lueders said.
When fully built out, the ADU on the riverfront will have cost around $200,000 to construct and transport. The structure will be on display until October, when it will be moved to a permanent site as housing for a local nonprofit.
“Every time I’m down here, I see people looking in and having conversations,” Lueders said. “That’s really what this was meant to do. Start those conversations.”
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