By: Pauline Dulang, Reporter
OMAHA, Neb.- Flora apartment evacuations exemplify Omaha’s issue of lack-of affordable housing.
Full-time Creighton student Charlie Jackson works two jobs to keep up with bills. He said him and his three roommates pay too much for their overpriced small downtown home, but aren’t getting their money’s worth. He believes housing is a “basic necessity and no one should be paying anything exorbitant.”
Jackson and his roommates are neighbors to the recently condemned Flora apartments, a complex deemed unlivable by the City of Omaha Planning, forcing out roughly twelve households within a week’s notice.
President and CEO of Omaha non-profit Together Mike Hornacek said this is yet another example of inadequate affordable housing in Omaha.
“It’s also a supply and demand issue. If there was enough low-income or affordable housing, situations like this wouldn’t happen,” Hornacek said.
In addition to the lack of low-income housing, there is a lack of enforcement by the City of Omaha.
“We need better enforcement of the rental inspection ordinance. It’s not enough to just inspect and record everything. There needs to be enforcement when there’s code violations reported.”
Hornacek said it’s not uncommon for landlords to take advantage of renters who are afraid to speak up for fear that they’ll be evicted or asked to leave, all while being replaced by other renters willing to live the same filthy conditions.
Flora apartment residents were paying $700-$850 a month for a cramped studio, 1-bedroom or 2-bedroom apartments. The units were infested with mice, had mold and broken windows and were without running water and heat.
The code violations on the property have been open for five years.
“It had been inspected. The violations had been recorded. There was just no follow through with enforcement to make sure that there were repercussions for not maintaining and repairing the property,” Hornacek said.
Flora apartment landlord William Stanek and his maintenance workers are bringing the complex up to code “one unit at a time,” however improvements are slow.
