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LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
SECOND SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 842
Introduced by McKinney, 11.
Read first time January 03, 2024
Committee: Urban Affairs
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to housing; to amend sections 19-901, 19-902,
2 19-5503, 58-701, 58-706, 71-1575, and 71-15,124, Reissue Revised
3 Statutes of Nebraska; to define and redefine terms under the
4 Municipal Density and Missing Middle Housing Act, the Nebraska
5 Affordable Housing Act, and the Nebraska Housing Agency Act; to
6 change provisions relating to the activities that are eligible for
7 assistance from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund; to harmonize
8 provisions; to provide an operative date; to repeal the original
9 sections; and to declare an emergency.
10 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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1 Section 1. Section 19-901, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
2 amended to read:
3 19-901 (1) For the purpose of promoting health, safety, morals, or
4 the general welfare of the community, the city council of a city of the
5 first class or city of the second class or the village board of trustees
6 of a village may adopt zoning regulations which regulate and restrict the
7 height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures,
8 the percentage of lots that may be occupied, the size of yards, courts,
9 and other open spaces, the density of population, and the location and
10 use of buildings, structures, and land for trade, industry, residence, or
11 other purposes. For a city of the first class as described in subdivision
12 (4) (3) of section 19-5503, such regulations shall comply with the
13 Municipal Density and Missing Middle Housing Act.
14 (2) Such powers shall be exercised only after the city council or
15 village board of trustees has established a planning commission, received
16 from its planning commission a recommended comprehensive development plan
17 as defined in section 19-903, adopted such comprehensive development
18 plan, and received the specific recommendation of the planning commission
19 on the adoption or amendment of zoning regulations. The planning
20 commission shall make a preliminary report and hold public hearings on
21 its recommendations regarding the adoption or repeal of the comprehensive
22 development plan and zoning regulations and shall hold public hearings
23 thereon before submitting its final report to the city council or village
24 board of trustees. Amendments to the comprehensive plan or zoning
25 regulations shall be considered at public hearings before submitting
26 recommendations to the city council or village board of trustees.
27 (3) A comprehensive development plan as defined in section 19-903
28 which has been adopted and not rescinded by a city council or village
29 board of trustees prior to May 17, 1967, shall be deemed to have been
30 recommended and adopted in compliance with the procedural requirements of
31 this section when, prior to the adoption of the plan by the city council
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1 or village board of trustees, a recommendation thereon had been made to
2 the city council or village board of trustees by a zoning commission in
3 compliance with the provisions of section 19-906, as such section existed
4 prior to its repeal by Laws 1967, c. 92, section 7, or by a planning
5 commission appointed under the provisions of Chapter 19, article 9,
6 regardless of whether the planning commission had been appointed as a
7 zoning commission.
8 (4) The requirement that a planning commission be appointed and a
9 comprehensive development plan be adopted shall not apply to cities of
10 the first class, cities of the second class, and villages which have
11 legally adopted a zoning ordinance prior to May 17, 1967, and which have
12 not amended the zoning ordinance or zoning map since May 17, 1967. Such
13 city or village shall appoint a planning commission and adopt the
14 comprehensive plan prior to amending the zoning ordinance or zoning map.
15 Sec. 2. Section 19-902, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
16 amended to read:
17 19-902 (1) For any or all of the purposes designated in section
18 19-901, the city council or village board of trustees may divide the
19 municipality into districts of such number, shape, and area as may be
20 deemed best suited to carry out the purposes of sections 19-901 to 19-915
21 and may regulate and restrict the erection, construction, reconstruction,
22 alteration, repair, or use of buildings, structures, or land within such
23 districts. All such regulations shall be uniform for each class or kind
24 of buildings throughout each district, but the regulations applicable to
25 one district may differ from those applicable to other districts. For a
26 city of the first class as described in subdivision (4) (3) of section
27 19-5503, such regulations shall comply with the Municipal Density and
28 Missing Middle Housing Act. If a regulation affects the Niobrara scenic
29 river corridor as defined in section 72-2006 and is not incorporated
30 within the boundaries of the municipality, the Niobrara Council shall act
31 on the regulation as provided in section 72-2010.
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1 (2)(a) The city council or village board of trustees shall not adopt
2 or enforce any zoning ordinance or regulation which prohibits the use of
3 land for a proposed residential structure for the sole reason that the
4 proposed structure is a manufactured home if such manufactured home bears
5 an appropriate seal which indicates that it was constructed in accordance
6 with the standards of the Uniform Standard Code for Manufactured Homes
7 and Recreational Vehicles, the Nebraska Uniform Standards for Modular
8 Housing Units Act, or the United States Department of Housing and Urban
9 Development. The city council or village board of trustees may require
10 that a manufactured home be located and installed according to the same
11 standards for foundation system, permanent utility connections, setback,
12 and minimum square footage which would apply to a site-built, single-
13 family dwelling on the same lot. The city council or village board of
14 trustees may also require that manufactured homes meet the following
15 standards:
16 (i) The home shall have no less than nine hundred square feet of
17 floor area;
18 (ii) The home shall have no less than an eighteen-foot exterior
19 width;
20 (iii) The roof shall be pitched with a minimum vertical rise of two
21 and one-half inches for each twelve inches of horizontal run;
22 (iv) The exterior material shall be of a color, material, and scale
23 comparable with those existing in residential site-built, single-family
24 construction;
25 (v) The home shall have a nonreflective roof material which is or
26 simulates asphalt or wood shingles, tile, or rock; and
27 (vi) The home shall have wheels, axles, transporting lights, and
28 removable towing apparatus removed.
29 (b) The city council or village board of trustees may not require
30 additional standards unless such standards are uniformly applied to all
31 single-family dwellings in the zoning district.
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1 (c) Nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to supersede any
2 valid restrictive covenants of record.
3 (3) For purposes of this section, manufactured home shall mean (a) a
4 factory-built structure which is to be used as a place for human
5 habitation, which is not constructed or equipped with a permanent hitch
6 or other device allowing it to be moved other than to a permanent site,
7 which does not have permanently attached to its body or frame any wheels
8 or axles, and which bears a label certifying that it was built in
9 compliance with national Manufactured Home Construction and Safety
10 Standards, 24 C.F.R. 3280 et seq., promulgated by the United States
11 Department of Housing and Urban Development, or (b) a modular housing
12 unit as defined in section 71-1557 bearing a seal in accordance with the
13 Nebraska Uniform Standards for Modular Housing Units Act.
14 (4) Subdivision regulations and building, plumbing, electrical,
15 housing, fire, or health codes or similar regulations and the adoption
16 thereof shall not be subject to sections 19-901 to 19-915.
17 Sec. 3. Section 19-5503, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
18 amended to read:
19 19-5503 For purposes of the Municipal Density and Missing Middle
20 Housing Act:
21 (1) Accessory dwelling unit means an interior, attached, or detached
22 residential structure that is used in connection with, or that is an
23 accessory to, a single-family dwelling and is located on the same lot or
24 parcel as such single-family dwelling;
25 (2) Affordable housing means residential dwelling units that:
26 (a) Are affordable to a household earning not more than one hundred
27 twenty percent of the area median income; and
28 (b) For rental units, require payment of monthly rental costs,
29 including utilities, of no more than thirty percent of the tenant's
30 annual income as defined in 24 C.F.R. 5.609 eighty percent of the income
31 limit as set forth by the United States Department of Housing and Urban
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1 Development under its Income Limits Documentation System, as such limits
2 existed on January 1, 2022, for the county in which the units are located
3 and for a particular household size;
4 (3) Area median income means the median household income, adjusted
5 for family size, for applicable income limit areas as determined by the
6 United States Department of Housing and Urban Development;
7 (4) (3) City means any city of the metropolitan class, city of the
8 primary class, or city of the first class in the State of Nebraska with a
9 population of at least twenty thousand inhabitants as determined by the
10 most recent federal decennial census or the most recent revised certified
11 count by the United States Bureau of the Census;
12 (5) (4) Cottage cluster means a grouping of no fewer than four
13 detached housing units per acre with a footprint of less than nine
14 hundred square feet each and that includes a common courtyard;
15 (6) (5) Density bonus means a density increase over the otherwise
16 maximum allowable residential density under a city's zoning codes,
17 ordinances, and regulations;
18 (7) (6) Middle housing means:
19 (a) Duplexes;
20 (b) Triplexes;
21 (c) Quadplexes;
22 (d) Cottage clusters; or
23 (e) Townhouses;
24 (8) (7) Townhouse means a dwelling unit constructed in a row of two
25 or more attached units where each dwelling unit is located on an
26 individual lot or parcel and shares at least one common wall with an
27 adjacent unit; and
28 (9) (8) Workforce housing means:
29 (a) Housing that meets the needs of working families;
30 (b) Owner-occupied housing units that have an after-construction
31 appraised value of at least one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars but
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1 not more than three two hundred seventy-five thousand dollars to
2 construct;
3 (c) Owner-occupied housing units for which the cost to substantially
4 rehabilitate exceeds fifty percent of a unit's assessed value;
5 (d) Upper-story housing for occupation by a homeowner; and
6 (e) Housing that does not receive federal or state low-income
7 housing tax credits, community development block grants, HOME funds as
8 defined in section 81-1228, or funds from the Affordable Housing Trust
9 Fund.
10 Sec. 4. Section 58-701, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
11 amended to read:
12 58-701 Sections 58-701 to 58-711 and section 5 of this act shall be
13 known and may be cited as the Nebraska Affordable Housing Act.
14 Sec. 5. For purposes of the Nebraska Affordable Housing Act:
15 (1) Affordable housing means residential dwelling units that:
16 (a) Are affordable to a household earning not more than one hundred
17 twenty percent of the area median income; and
18 (b) For rental units, require payment of monthly rental costs,
19 including utilities, of no more than thirty percent of the tenant's
20 annual income as defined in 24 C.F.R. 5.609;
21 (2) Area median income means the median household income, adjusted
22 for family size, for applicable income limit areas as determined by the
23 United States Department of Housing and Urban Development;
24 (3) Low-income household means a household earning more than fifty
25 percent but not more than eighty percent of the area median income; and
26 (4) Very low-income household means a household earning not more
27 than fifty percent of the area median income.
28 Sec. 6. Section 58-706, Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, is
29 amended to read:
30 58-706 The following activities are eligible for assistance from the
31 Affordable Housing Trust Fund:
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1 (1) New construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition of housing to
2 assist low-income households and very low-income households families;
3 (2) Matching funds for new construction, rehabilitation, or
4 acquisition of housing units to assist low-income households and very
5 low-income households families;
6 (3) Technical assistance, design and finance services, and
7 consultation for eligible nonprofit community or neighborhood-based
8 organizations involved in the creation of affordable housing;
9 (4) Matching funds for operating costs for housing assistance groups
10 or organizations when such grant or loan will substantially increase the
11 recipient's ability to produce affordable housing;
12 (5) Mortgage insurance guarantees for eligible projects;
13 (6) Acquisition of housing units for the purpose of preservation of
14 housing to assist low-income households or very low-income households
15 families;
16 (7) Projects making affordable housing more accessible to families
17 with elderly members or members who have disabilities;
18 (8) Projects providing housing in areas determined by the Department
19 of Economic Development to be of critical importance for the continued
20 economic development and economic well-being of the community and where,
21 as determined by the department, a shortage of affordable housing exists;
22 (9) Infrastructure projects necessary for the development of
23 affordable housing;
24 (10) Downpayment and closing cost assistance;
25 (11) Demolition of existing vacant, condemned, or obsolete housing
26 or industrial buildings or infrastructure;
27 (12) Housing education programs developed in conjunction with
28 affordable housing projects. The education programs may must be directed
29 toward:
30 (a) Preparing potential home buyers to purchase affordable housing
31 and postpurchase education. Such education programs may include any home
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