According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition there are only 38 units available right now for every 100 extremely low-income renters in the state of Nebraska. Mike Hornacek, president and CEO of Together, a local nonprofit whose mission is to prevent and end homelessness and hunger, cites that we are in crisis stages when you talk about affordable housing, like a lot of communities across the state. 

“There is a pretty major supply and demand issue,” he said.

But Together, along with various community partners, have worked to address the issue; address being the operative word.

After two successful pilot programs, Together and their community partners have purchased and converted a downtown hotel into a short-term, emergency housing program, aimed primarily at the elderly populations, faced with ongoing medical conditions.

In addition to a new roof, heating and cooling units, paint, carpeting and plumbing, 38 of the 58 units have been completely refurbished, with total completion targeted this spring.

While at their temporary home, staffed by 24/7 security and guest services, residents will be assigned case workers to address their various needs. Residents are provided a continental breakfast, two hot meals a day, clothing if needed, along with other amenities, such as welcome kits with hygiene products, and planned community activities.

Acting as a liaison between landlords, property owners and other social service agencies – such as counseling and financial assistance – their goal is to secure permanent housing for their guests and help get them back on their feet.

As to future plans, Together has engaged a strategic planning consultant to map out 2026 and beyond.

“That will take about six or seven months to complete, and with that I’m hoping we have some direction as to where we want to go. The outcomes have been so good that I would be shocked if we did not see more interventions similar to it in the future,” Hornacek said about additional short-term, emergency housing programs.

How dire is the housing crisis? Well, It depends which side of the coin you are on.

“The population in Omaha is definitely growing. In some ways you could say it’s the downside of being nationally ranked as one of the best places to live and grow your family,” and “it’s well-known Nebraska has the lowest unemployment rate in the country,” he stated.

However, other statistics paint a different picture. According to federal standards, the Omaha metropolitan area has somewhere around 70,000 households who live at or below the poverty level, and around another 30,000 that aren’t too far from it.

“That’s like 25 to 27 percent living at or near the poverty level,” Hornacek cites.

Contrary to some beliefs, by no means are people standing in line, just waiting for handouts. Hornacek explains that “We’re the number one state in the country for the population of working poor people who are at the poverty level. We are one of the top states in the country for people working multiple jobs. We don’t have an employment problem in Nebraska. We have way too many people making $15 or less.”

Compounding the issue is the cost of living rampantly fueled by inflation.

Hornacek explains that within the last five years leading up to the pandemic, rents raised an average of 50 percent. “If you look at annual wage increases of 3,5, 6 and 7 percent, and your rent is going up, groceries are going up, gas is going up, you’re not going to survive that.”

With aging buildings being condemned – causing the city to lose hundreds of housing units – leaves little housing for the growing population.

These renters may face further disadvantages.

When there is a supply and demand issue with housing it can lead to a lot of fair housing issues and discriminatory practices, said Hornacek, and the problem has been steadily building.

A lot of people in the world of affordable housing and homelessness assistance probably would have defined it crisis in the two years leading up to the pandemic. Then the pandemic happened and catapulted the crisis further. Hornacek shares that even the rural communities and western Nebraskans “are yelling and screaming the same message, you know it’s a major problem.”

Despite the pandemic, Together worked diligently to keep its mission going.

“It was challenging to say the least. Just like everybody else, it impacted our operations dramatically. We have two areas that we live in, food insecurity, which we largely address through pantry operations, and then homelessness, which we largely address through all our housing programs.” Hornacek remembers that when the shutdown hit in March 2020, Together started doing a drive-through pantry through the back door. This program lasted for 10 months, from that March through the end of the year 2020. “We had 200 cars lined up every day, and we did whatever we could do to make sure people had access to food,” he said.

To remedy the situation Hornacek believes more could be done from the development perspective, by incentivizing housing developers. There are not financial mechanisms in place right now to encourage low-income and affordable housing, and the ones that are in place, “encourage you to build at market rate and above, and so that’s what is getting built.”

He cites that starter homes in the metro, just the bare bones, start in the neighborhood of $300,000.

Another factor at hand is mental health and substance abuse that can lead to homelessness. Hornacek believes that “the single best solution to addressing homelessness we have, other than just providing housing for people, is much more robust mental health and behavior health services. We don’t have the capacity in our community, to make sure everybody really gets the level of care they need,” he said.

In fact, Hornacek has researched a direct correlation between the closure of mental health hospitals in the late ’70s, early ’80s and the rise in rate of homelessness. These closures coincided with how people were being treated at these facilities. “We were just locking people up and throwing away the key. And so, everyone thought we needed to do a better job of integrating people into the community and provide support.”

“Unfortunately, the best-laid plans don’t always work out the way we want, and the lack of a robust mental health services system has led to dramatically higher rates of homelessness over the decades – impacting our healthcare, schools and criminal justice systems, just to name a few,” he said.

The “greying” of unhoused persons also adds to the plight of the Baby Boomer generation; the largest population of retirees our country has ever had.

“Some saved well, some didn’t save as well for various reasons. Some aren’t as prepared for retirement. On top of that, then you have pandemic and you have inflation, and if you’re on a fixed income, obviously you can get a part-time job, offset some of those things and continue working, if have the ability to do that. If you are in your 70s and 80s, you might not have the ability to continue to work. Or, if you are disabled or homebound, that might not be an option,” Hornacek points out.

Included in that segment of society are the Vietnam veterans, who often suffer from PTSD.

The lack of mental health resources available to unhoused persons is an issue because there aren’t enough psychiatrists and psychologists in the public sector.

This tends to put greater pressure on the caseworkers, whom he credits for their high success rate, working one-on-one with the residents.

“From the get go – the pilot, leading into now the permanent program – the outcomes and then results have been amazing, which allowed the permanent program to happen. In my opinion, it’s largely because there was a really, really robust case management support system in place,” he said.

In addition to client care, caseworkers had to do triple the amount of searches to find suitable housing, per their tracked data, last year.

As for Hornacek, he too, has seemed to have found a permanent home at Together.

He left a secure job in 2010 to join what was then a tiny organization, housed in a run-down building, by listening to a voice inside that told him to stay with the nonprofit, while all other indicators told him to run the other way.

“Besides my wife and three kids, it’s the most important decision I ever made,” said Hornacek, who also advocates at the local, state and federal level for the unhoused.

Since then, the nonprofit has grown from five employees – with an annual budget of roughly $400,000 ¬– to 75 employees. Together now operates with an annual budget of $16M, four locations in Omaha and Council Bluffs and serves 45,000-plus individuals annually by providing healthy and nutritious food. They are working tirelessly to help thousands facing a housing crisis either attain or retain housing each year.

But here is the message Hornacek wants people to take home:

“They are three ways to help. People can donate money. They can donate supplies, such as sleeping bags, hand warmers, snacks, water, blankets and gloves for our street outreach team, and they can use their voice. Homelessness is a real issue in our community.”

To learn more and to volunteer, please visit: togetheromaha.org.