LB 496, a bill authorizing tax increment financing (TIF), to builders of single and multi-family housing in first and second class cities as well as villages, was stalled by a filibuster in the Unicameral on Wednesday.

LB 496 was introduced in part to address the shortage of suitable and affordable housing in rural communities with meat packinghouses with large immigrant workforces. In Nebraska that would include the small communities of Madison, Lexington, Crete and Schuyler.

A shortage of affordable housing increases rents for workers in who live in those communities. While opponents of LB 496 argued that the market would provide for additional housing, investors are wary of building in small communities because of the risk that a major packinghouse will close and they will not have tenants. This scenario happened in Dennison, Iowa in 2015 when a Tyson beef packing plant employing 400 employees was closed.

Lack of affordable housing also contributes to housing discrimination. I have seen this first hand in Lexington, Nebraska. In 2015, the Nebraska Attorney General’s office filed a case under the Nebraska Fair Housing Act (PDF link) against Cottonwood Apartments owner Gerald Rich for his treatment of Somali tenants who were employed at the Tyson beef packing plant in Lexington.

Tenants alleging housing discrimination in Nebraska can file a complaint with the NEOC. The suit against Gerald Rich shows that at least in Nebraska, such complaints will be taken seriously. I hope in the future that our representatives in the Unicameral will act seriously to help provide affordable and suitable housing for residents of our state that came here to do difficult, dangerous and dirty work.

**Lincoln-based author Ted Genoways, who has written extensively about the meatpacking industry, wrote a good piece about the packinghouse community of Garden City, Kansas that is worth a read by clicking here.