Several nonprofit leaders and community members mingled near an active construction site Wednesday morning, their conversation and laughter competed with the sound of heavy equipment. Across the intersection of 25th and Corby Streets, long modular pieces of future homes sat in a grassy field.
Within hours, a crane lifted those pieces onto a foundation that will hold four townhomes. The development is a rare new build in the neighborhood and the first in a larger initiative to chip away at Nebraska’s significant housing needs.
The project, known as “The Townhomes at Watson Place,” blends modern construction with community engagement to provide high-quality, attainable housing, said Adam Hootnick, leader of Housing Growth Partners (HGP).
Pieces of the townhomes were constructed in York, Nebraska, and transported on trucks to North Omaha. Hootnick pointed to the modular construction process as a major factor in keeping the homes affordable.
Two 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath units will list at $230,000. Two 2-bedroom, 1.5-bath units will list at $207,000. Each of the four will have a basement and detached garage.
“(Our) mission is to create beautiful, attainable homes for as many people as possible that have the best possible chance of appreciating in value and enable people to create generational wealth, have something to pass on, create stability in their lives,” Hootnick said. “We believe modular (builds) is one of the best ways to achieve that.”
HGP in partnership with Spark and support from Nebraska’s Middle Income Workforce Housing Investment Fund aim to add 30 new homes to the area within the next year.
The innovation of modular homes “is hugely important,” said Tom Warren, Omaha Mayor John Ewing’s chief of staff.
“The city can’t be tied to just one way of developing affordable places for people to live,” Warren said. “Omaha needs many tools to fix the chronic housing shortage, and the housing growth partners will show us this interesting way of innovation.”
Poet and native North Omahan Zedeka Poindexter shared a poem ahead of Wednesday’s construction.
“Today, someone looks at this place and says, maybe I can have that. I can plant something green over there,” Poindexter said. “We could have an office or a music room or a baby, and the life choices will all belong to them, because it is their space to fill with their lives. There is nothing more innovative than possibility, a plot of land, and a place you can call your own.”
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