Housing Rehabilitation Program

The Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) now offers owner-occupied housing rehabilitation as a new program. This program will work with metro area communities by assessing their needs and allocating available funds.

Owner-occupied rehabilitation projects focus on replacing key components of homes – roofs, windows, and heating and cooling systems. This program will also be available to assist other housing needs requested by the communities it serves. The benefits of an owner-occupied rehabilitation include:

• Reduced monthly utility costs;
• Improved energy performance;
• Minimized ongoing maintenance for homeowners; and
• Preservation of housing units.

Quality housing is a need local communities have shared with the MAPA staff. While there are other housing programs in place in Nebraska and Iowa’s other economic development districts, this is MAPA’s first housing program. Its immediate focus is on more rural and smaller communities, but it will also extend to aid more urban and suburban areas.

This program’s services are available to Nebraska homeowners, as well as Pottawattamie and Mills County residents.

MAPA received a $315,000 grant from Nebraska’s Department of Economic Development designated to rehabilitate owner-occupied houses in Valley and Waterloo, Nebraska. $250,000 will fund 10 renovations, $15,000 will be used for lead-based paint testing, and the remaining $50,000 will be used for housing renovation supervision and grant administration. The project is expected to begin in the spring of 2018.

For more information about MAPA’s owner-occupied housing rehabilitation program, contact Don Gross, Community and Economic Development Manager at 402-444-6866, ext. 230 or dgross@mapacog.org.