Lincoln nonprofit works to replace dilapidated houses
LINCOLN, Neb. — Gutted to the studs, with holes in the roof above, a collapsed basement below and squatter trash strewn all over, the house at 1120 E St. seemed slightly familiar to Shawn Ryba.
Nearly two years ago, the director of the South of Downtown Community Development Organization had stood across the street in another century-old home — also hollowed-out, neglected and beyond saving.
His nonprofit bought that property, 1105 E, and had it scraped from its corner lot last year. It’s now working with other private and public agencies to replace it with a new home, and to help fill the need for quality affordable housing in one of Lincoln’s oldest and rental-heavy neighborhoods.
It has similar plans for 1120 E, its latest purchase.
“We thought it would be an opportunity for us to make an impact on one block by getting two problem properties purchased and torn down and redeveloped,” Ryba told the Lincoln Journal Star. “We’re excited to bring these two properties back up and put people in them.”
The nonprofit formed a few years ago to elevate the quality of life south of downtown. Its staff has spent much of their time since talking with the people who live there — hosting meetings and forums and knocking on 3,000 doors — about what their neighborhoods need. Eventually, their answers will help the community development organization shape an area redevelopment plan to present to the City Council.
But the nonprofit isn’t waiting to act on the prevailing complaint — the lack of quality affordable housing.
For its first property, 1105 E, it will work with the Lincoln Community Foundation to finance the single-family home and with NeighborWorks Lincoln, which will build it and find a low- to moderate-income family to live there.
Ryba estimated the home would likely sell for $140,000 to $150,000 and should be done by the end of the year.
“It’s kind of a tricky market,” he said. “There’s not a lot of home ownership; there’s not a lot of properties to compare. But we know there’s a huge need for housing, and we do think it will be in high demand.”
Ryba’s group hasn’t decided what to do with the house across the street, which it bought for $40,000 in November. The former fourplex sits on a bigger lot with a four-stall garage worth saving, so the property could remain rental property.
But it’s clear the building is beyond repair. The home has been vacant for more than a decade and without utilities almost as long, Ryba said. The walls were ripped out in a renovation start that never ended, and most of the plumbing and electrical disappeared.
“There was a good intention; it’s just didn’t happen, and then it was left to deteriorate.”
And then the trespassers, animals and elements moved in. Ryba found a bucket of human waste on the front porch and layers of animal waste on the soggy floors inside, along with empty Hurricane and Milwaukee’s Best beer cans and children’s clothes.
Lincoln police have visited at least six times in six years, responding to reports of trespassing, drugs, assault and other calls.
Rain and snow pouring through the holes in the roof have rotted the remaining wood, and a 15- to 20-foot section of basement wall crumbled and fell to the floor.
Fixing the foundation could cost $50,000, Ryba said, and a basic rehab could cost up to $250,000. But he doubted any contractors would be willing to try.
“Even if we were to try to rehab something like that, we wouldn’t be able to find anyone to do it.”
Preventing houses from reaching this state of disrepair — through stricter code enforcement — could help solve the city’s housing shortage, he said.
Here on this one block of E Street alone, two properties were uninhabitable for years. There could have been families living there, he said.
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“We’re frustrated. We’d like to see these properties first of all maintained, and then held to a certain standard. When we get them, it’s too late.”