Ricketts applauds housing venture

Gov. Pete Ricketts applauded community leaders in Aurora Friday for taking advantage of the state’s Rural Workforce Housing Fund to launch a 64-lot development project that will ultimately help the community grow.
A groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for the Streeter Subdivision on the west edge of town was moved to the Bremer Center due to inclement weather, where a crowd of nearly 75 people celebrated what several agreed represents a tremendous opportunity, as well as a major milestone.
“I’ve been governor now for nearly seven years and as I’ve travelled around the state the difference between communities that are growing and communities that are not gets down to leadership,” Ricketts said. “It is something that is so obvious here in Aurora … No company comes to a generic place called Nebraska. They only move to welcoming communities, communities that want to grow their wealth and create the ability for them to grow. Aurora and Hamilton County fit that bill.”
Seeds for Friday’s celebration were planted last year when the Aurora Housing Development Corporation decided to conduct a housing study which concluded the obvious — Aurora needs more housing. AHDC raised $750,000 in local matching funds, which when added to a $250,000 Nebraska Investment Finance Authority (NIFA) grant and a $1 million Rural Workforce Housing grant created a $2 million revolving loan fund. That fund, explained AHDC president Jannelle Seim, turned a lot of “what-if” conversations into a development of more than 60 lots and 26 housing units, all expected to be built by the end of next summer.
“Today is a little over a year in the making,” Seim explained. “If you think raising children takes a village, you should try building a subdivision. It took a team of dedicated people, including many of those from local businesses, foundations and the city, to make this happen.”
Construction has already begun on the infrastructure for the new development. The initial construction project includes the installation of water, sewer, storm sewer and paving development of 64 lots in the recently platted Streeter’s Third and Fourth additions, just west of the Westfield Quality Care facility. Also part of this initial workforce housing project, BAMS Capital, LLC and HOME, LLC have committed to build 10 units in Streeter’s First Addition and 16 residential units in Streeter’s Fourth Addition, respectively. 

LB 518 impact
Dist. 36 Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg also congratulated Aurora community leaders for a development which he said reflects the kind of housing project lawmakers envisioned when passing LB 518 back in 2017.
“Community leadership matters,” Williams began. “Those communities that we have the opportunity to watch grow have several things in common, but the bottom line is that they have people who are willing to step up and make a difference and I congratulate you on those efforts because Aurora has always been one of those communities that has stepped up. But you can never quit. There is that time you need to keep the ball rolling.
“The reason that we’re here today is because of LB 518, recognizing that building rooftops has become the only way to successfully grow our communities, in particular rural communities,” he continued. “That’s what LB 518 and the Rural Workforce Housing grant program has done.”
Williams reported that the state committed $7.5 million to the program in 2017, which has since ballooned in value to $120 million in net worth (creating an estimated 800 new housing units around the state), due to NIFA and local matching grants. State lawmakers committed another $10 million to the program in 2020.
“My goal, with one term left in the Legislature, is to be sure that we leave a mark, long term, and find a way to make this program sustainable into the future,” he said. “So that’s my hope.”
“I want to thank Sen. Williams for not only introducing LB 518 in 2017 and championing the additional $10 million in 2020, but also just his general leadership to help promote rural workforce housing,” Ricketts added.
The governor pointed out that Hamilton County’s population grew by 3.3 percent in the 2020 Census, the most since 1940.
“Think about that,” he said. “That’s amazing, and it also outstrips the growth of the state, in general. This community, over the last couple years, has helped start or grow 26 businesses, the city council is doubling the wastewater treatment capacity here to be able to accommodate more growth, Hamilton Telecommunications in expanding to Central City. These are the signs of a community that is growing and it is a testament to the work, the leadership that you have in the county that’s making that happen.”
Dist. 34 Sen. Curt Friesen was the last to speak during the 30-minute ceremony, adding his congratulations to local leaders.
“Aurora does things the Aurora way,” he said. “It took me a little bit to learn that, but they do things in a different way than other communities and they have a way of getting it done.”
Friesen said he believes there is another factor impacting housing projects around the state, one that he has been working hard on throughout his tenure in Lincoln.
“We keep talking about the housing shortage, but this year we obviously got some property tax relief that next year is going to add up to almost a billion dollars in property tax relief so people can afford these houses,” he said, drawing applause from the audience. “I think that’s part of the equation, too. With our revenue that we’ve been able to provide through property tax relief more people can afford to live in that house. 
“Because longer term … if we want our young people to come back to the state we have to provide things for them,” he concluded. “We have to get ready for them. We can’t just sit on our hands and think they’re going to come.”