Inclusionary Housing in Omaha

Today's World herald has an interesting article discussing how "students of low-income families flourish in mixed housing." Here is an excerpt:

But a big draw for Timber Creek's 45 public-housing families is the mix of tenant incomes, allowing poor people to blend in and flourish in a suburban area where low-income people historically haven't settled.

"You have more role models here," said Patricia Gunther, a single mother who has lived there for four years. "People get up every morning. They go to work. They pay their rent."

Developments such as Timber Creek can provide some guidance as Omaha grapples with a concentration of poor and minority students in its eastern neighborhoods.

Both the Omaha school district, which has proposed absorbing suburban schools as an equalizer, and suburban school officials, who oppose such a move, say housing patterns have intensified school segregation.

Timber Creek, with its integrated environment, support services for residents and the nearby Holling Heights Elementary School, stands out as an example of how low-income families can thrive in suburbia.

Timber Creek is among only a dozen family-oriented Omaha complexes west of 72nd Street that operate under a government mandate guaranteeing at least some low-income units. The requirements stem from the developers' use of public subsidies, including federal tax credits, to help pay for construction or purchase.