The Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) has awarded Project Houseworks $750,000 in funding through the Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Affordable Housing Construction Program (AHCP). Earlier this summer, Project Houseworks applied for consideration under an AHCP subprogram—the Homeownership Production Program (HPP)—to support new construction of five single-family homes on vacant lots in South Omaha. Completed homes will be sold to qualified low-to-moderate income homebuyers who have completed federally required housing counseling.
The Homeownership Production Program facilitates the construction of affordable housing, targeting areas federally designated as “most impacted and distressed” (MID) because of the 2019 flood disaster. This area includes Dodge, Douglas, and Sarpy counties.
Interest in the Homeownership Production Program exceeded expectations with $15.9 million in requested funds. Several projects were not selected due to missing the threshold for award. DED has conducted outreach to the non-selected projects to provide clarity on the HPP program and technical assistance on the program application. DED is in the process of analyzing how to best allocate the remaining CDBG-DR funds to meet the demand for assistance.
In the wake of the 2019 flood disaster, $108.9 million in CDBG-DR funding was allocated to Nebraska by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In coordination with HUD, DED developed an action plan for implementation of these funds. Desired outcomes include the redevelopment and revitalization of affordable housing stock in flood-affected areas. Per HUD requirements, 80% of CDBG-DR funding must benefit the MID areas (Sarpy, Dodge and Douglas counties), and 70% of Nebraska’s total allocation must be directed to low-to-moderate-income residents. All investments of CDBG-DR funding must be tied to the 2019 flood disaster.
MORE INFORMATION: Nebraska’s CDBG-DR programs are administered by the DED Disaster Recovery Division. For more information about CDBG-DR programs, including details about the MID area and program priorities, visit the DED’s CDBG-DR website. If you have general questions about the CDBG-DR program, please direct them to ded.cdbgdr@nebraska.gov.
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Individuals who are hearing and/or speech impaired and have a TTY may contact the Department through the Statewide Relay System by calling (711) INSTATE, (800) 833-7352 (TTY), or (800) 833-0920 (voice). The relay operator should be asked to call DED at (800) 426-6505 or (402) 471-3111. Additional information is available on the Nebraska Relay website at http://www.nebraskarelay.com/. Nebraska Relay offers Spanish relay service for our Spanish-speaking customers. Spanish-to-Spanish (711) or 1-888-272-5528; Spanish-to-English (711) or 1-877-564-3503. Nebraska le ofrece el servicio de relevo a nuestros clientes en español. Los consumidores de TTY pueden escribir por máquina en español y las conversaciones serán retransmitidas en español y inglés.