Omaha’s response to America’s housing instability starts with connection

Straight Arrow News

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00:00Federal data shows that more than half a million Americans are without stable housing.

00:05That's the highest number in over a decade.

00:08Here in Omaha, a single event is trying to change that,

00:11linking dozens of local organizations to people who need help all under one roof.

00:18Through Project Connect, people facing housing instability can get help faster.

00:24In just minutes, they can meet with housing agencies, health clinics,

00:27and employers saving weeks of paperwork and travel.

00:30Connection to all services, connection to shared housing and alternative housing methods,

00:37because in a post-COVID world, we don't have access to rental assistance really anymore,

00:43so really just access to everything and collaboration among that system.

00:47Taylor Novak, event organizer and the community engagement manager for Threshold COC,

00:52the nonprofit behind the event says housing instability doesn't always look the same.

00:58For some, it means losing housing entirely.

01:01For others, it's just a few missed paychecks away.

01:04We're all kind of in a position of housing instability with the cost of living going up

01:08and limited rentals that are affordable and incomes that don't match the need.

01:14According to the latest data from Threshold COC,

01:17which covers Douglas, Sarpy, and Pottawatomie counties in Nebraska and Iowa,

01:211,609 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2024.

01:27Most were staying in emergency shelters, about 1,178 people.

01:32Others were unsheltered in transitional housing and safe havens.

01:36They may stay outside to maintain a connection to an intimate partner,

01:40to maintain a connection to a pet who doesn't do well in shelter,

01:43or because they have auditory hallucinations and there's so many people in the shelter,

01:47it really bothers them.

01:49People with PTSD, people with autism spectrum disorder.

01:53Melissa Neuenfeldt has spent the last 10 years on the streets of Omaha,

01:58providing medical care to people experiencing homelessness,

02:01meeting them wherever they are.

02:03They are in survival mode and many people have to focus only on

02:07what they're going to eat, where they're going to sleep,

02:09where they're going to go to the bathroom,

02:10and how they're going to keep themselves safe.

02:12Between October 2023 and October 2024,

02:16645 people returned unhoused after leaving housing programs.

02:21That's 15.7% of more than 4,100 who exited.

02:26During that same time, 2,237 people exited into permanent housing,

02:32while 5,374 did not.

02:35We need to bring services to the people as often as we can

02:39in order to get people connected to housing,

02:41which is the single greatest thing we can do to improve the health of people

02:44who are experiencing homelessness, is housing.

02:46Project Connect is a model threshold COC believes other communities across the nation could replicate.

02:53America is short nearly 7 million affordable homes for more than 10 million extremely low-income families,

02:59and that gap is widening, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition.

03:03The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development shows homelessness in America has reached a record high.

03:09On a single night in 2024, an estimated 771,480 people were without stable housing,

03:18roughly 23 out of every 10,000 residents across the country.

03:23Homelessness rose 18% nationwide between 2023 and 2024, according to HUD.

03:28Nearly 150,000 children were unhoused on a single night, up by a third from the year before.

03:35Families with children saw the biggest increase, while veterans were the only group to see a decline.

03:40About one in five people experiencing homelessness is now 55 or older.

03:45HUD officials say a shortage of affordable housing, rising inflation, stagnant wages,

03:50and the end-of-pandemic-era assistant programs have put strain on communities and homelessness systems nationwide.

03:56There isn't a single state or county in the U.S. where someone working full-time and minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment.

04:06That's why events like Project Connect matter, a local response to a national crisis.

04:12Its impact can reach far beyond one day, one connection, one referral, one step closer to stability.

04:18A lot of our providers are doing processing applications right away, so the delay is really kind of minimized with a one-stop shop.

04:27Our work is in restoring hope in the systems that have let people down and getting them to engage again.

04:33For Straight Arrow News, I'm Kaylee Carey.

04:35For more stories based right here in Nebraska, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit san.com.

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