Workforce housing development continues to dominate the discussion in economic and community development circles throughout Nebraska and in most of rural America.

North Platte Chamber and Development leaders a few years ago began brainstorming about the issue and why the community was lagging behind its peer communities in building new houses. Speculative housing (not custom pre-sold) was almost non-existent.  There were numerous reasons that were identified as part of the housing problem.  This led to the creation of the “Shot in the Arm” housing incentive program.

“Shot in the Arm” Phase 1 – ran from 2015-2017.  There were 48 new homes constructed and all have been sold, creating an estimated $11 million in new valuation, approximately $125,000 in retail sales from purchases of materials, generates $240,000 in annual property taxes and brought over 100 new residents into the community either through direct sales, or step up sales that opened up older housing for other residents. The original incentive investment was $350,000 – half from Chamber Devco and half from the City of North Platte’s Quality Growth Fund.

"Shot in the Arm" Phase 2 launched in 2018 with commitments of $1,183,400 in incentives pledged by the State of Nebraska’s Rural Workforce Housing Fund, Union Pacific Foundation, Great Plains Health, City of North Platte’s Quality Growth Funds and Chamber Devco incentive partners.   There were initially 118 housing units committed in the program.

Program guidelines required houses to be 1,400 square feet minimum with two car garage.  Incentive was $12,000 for single family; $6,000 per unit for multi-family built to city standards.  Each developer had to commit to at least two and no “pre-sold” are allowed.

Even with much of 2018 dedicated to getting construction plans and developments in place, still 9 new houses were constructed by five different developers, creating another $2.5 million in new valuation.  Anticipated additional valuation being created by Phase 2 is expected to exceed $25 million.  That does not include several other housing projects being proposed that were attracted to North Platte because of the statewide publicity of the program.

"Shot in the Arm" Phase 3 launched in 2021 and ran until 2025. There was a total of $1,450,000 in the fund, with commitments of the Chamber & Development Economic Champions, Great Plains Health, and Rural Workforce Housing Funds.  

Chamber & Development approved 25 single family houses, 20 Upper-floor downtown units, 10 rehab units in partnership with Lincoln County Development Corporation, and 120 multi-family units for a total approval of 175 units.  Those units have to be constructed by 2024/2025 to receive the incentive.

The “Shot in the Arm” housing incentive program has impacted an impressive list of over 102 local businesses while creating new homes for the community.

That impact has been just through the construction stage of the program.  Once houses are sold, then another level of local businesses are impacted by the furnishings, amenities and services that are purchased.  Those additional impacts are not factored into the business list provided being impacted by the program, making the local business impact even more meaningful. The residual economic spillover from the program into the community has also been welcomed by the business community. It also doesn’t include the local economic impact those additional families buying the homes will have long term in the North Platte / Lincoln County region.

“Shot in the Arm” brought North Platte a lot of positive publicity throughout Nebraska and local Chamber leaders have been asked to do numerous local, regional and state presentations on how the program works.  North Platte has been lauded for its innovative and creative way to tackle the problem by providing an incentive directly to the developer for each housing unit built.

Chamber Devco officials contacted each of the developers in Shot in the Arm - Phase 1 and the 9 houses constructed thus far in Shot in the Arm – Phase 2 to find out which local businesses were involved in their projects.   Thus far 81 have been identified and it’s very likely some may have been overlooked.   That list is likely to grow considerably once Phase 2 is completed. A list of those local businesses and entities impacted are included here.

• The program has helped North Platte play catch up on the housing market as its construction has lagged behind peer communities such as Hastings, Kearney, Columbus, Norfolk and Fremont.  This decade North Platte has averaged 35 new housing units per year.  In previous decades those numbers were: (52 per year) – 2000-2009; (79 per year) – 1990’s; (64 per year) – 1980’s; (284 per year) – 1970’s; (158 per year) – 1960’s; (134 per year) 1950’s; (115 per year) – 1940’s.
• The recently completed 2018 North Platte / Lincoln County Housing study documented the various housing needs and demands both in new units estimated at an immediate need of 523 additional to have a healthy housing market, and the rehabilitation of older and substandard housing being another critical point of emphasis.  Approximately 75 percent of North Platte’s housing stock is a half century or older.  That aging housing structure percentage is even greater in the villages of Lincoln County.
  • A new housing study will be released in the Fall of 2025!
• On April 15, 2021 Governor Pete Ricketts and the Nebraska Department of Economic Development announced that North Platte received $500,000 of the 2020 round of Rural Workforce Housing Funds. Paired with the local matching funds of $550,000 the Shot in the Arm Application Review Team began working on the revised application to meet state guidelines with a total of $1,050,000 to award to North Platte housing developments.