The multi-year OurStory Small Houses initiative brings professionals, academics and architecture students together to develop innovative designs for small houses, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and cottage court developments. These unconventional designs present creative solutions for affordable, accessible housing to meet a variety of community needs. The project from Partners for Livable Omaha is the focus of a current Joslyn Castle exhibit. 

Partners for Livable Omaha welcomed project partners, local stakeholders and community members to its “OurStory: Building Aging-Ready Housing at Scale” exhibit at the Joslyn Castle on Dec. 12. The showcase and lecture highlighted the latest collaborative efforts between the nonprofit and architecture students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in designing small, aging-ready houses. 

Partners for Livable Omaha, founded in 2020, acts to support Omaha metro communities by addressing “livability” needs. Topics of interest include increasing access to work and performance opportunities in the arts, as well as creating design-based resources to address housing and construction interests. The nonprofit forms relationships with local leaders and organizations to identify and tackle these issues.

Livability refers to the quality of life in a specific area, encompassing factors such as affordable housing, public health and safety, schools, job opportunities, transportation infrastructure, etc.

“Livability is a very broad umbrella,” Partners for Livable Omaha Founder and Executive Director Jessica Scheuerman said. “It’s not limited to arts and culture. There are endless challenges when you’re talking about livability.” 

OurStory launched in 2024. It was inspired by a combination of Scheuerman’s experience advocating for aging in place practices and policies, and witnessing her mother navigate senior housing and affordability concerns. 

Jeffrey Day is an architect and professor of architecture at UNL. He directs FACT (Fabrication And Construction Team), an interdisciplinary design-build studio affiliated with the UNL College of Architecture. Often collaborating with Actual Architecture Co., where Day is a founding partner, FACT provides students real-world applications and learning opportunities to practice skills they develop in the classroom.

“My approach is really about the students getting unconventional projects built,” Day said. “I’m interested in working with creative nonprofits and other development agencies that are thinking differently about how we put together projects.” 

Day said student participants range from senior undergraduates to those pursuing a master’s degree. With FACT’s ongoing collaboration with Partners for Livable Omaha, two OurStory single-family homes have begun construction in Benson. 

“Jeff and the design team, they push the innovation,” Scheuerman said. “We push the partnerships that make it work.”

Addressing community needs

The launch of the OurStory project comes as state and city leaders identify a need for affordable housing. State officials passed LB 866 into law in 2020, which led to Omaha leaders creating and approving the Omaha Housing Affordability Action Plan in 2022. 

According to the AARP, the U.S. population is aging, with one in five Americans expected to be 65 or older by 2030. Todd Stubbendieck, state director at Nebraska AARP, said aging and older adults have shown a strong interest in staying in their communities and a desire to maintain the most independence possible for as long as possible. 

“There really aren’t many options between that large single-family home where they raised their family and assisted living,” Stubbendieck said. Acting as an advisor to the OurStory program, he said the accommodating designs for the elderly make the small homes an innovative solution. 

Renderings of small houses designed by UNL College of Architecture students with the OurStory project

Beyond helping the aging population, Stubbendieck said the small homes could be ideal, cheaper options for first-time buyers to build up their equity. The National Association for REALTORS found from July 2024 to June 2025 surveys that the median age for first-time home buyers is 40. In comparison, first-time home buyers in the 1980s were typically in their late 20s. 

Brad Fricke, 2026 president of the Omaha Area Board of REALTORS, said concerns over high interest rates, homeowners insurance rates and property taxes are common in the current Nebraska housing market. He said conversations around creative housing units and examining the merits of building code requirements that can hold up construction could be beneficial in increasing home ownership. 

“As buildable space in the counties becomes more depleted, we will have to start looking at more compact housing, along with some smaller housing, to help with affordability,” Fricke said.

According to the core document of the Omaha Housing Affordability Action Plan, Douglas County will need to produce around 30,000 housing units by 2030 to meet its estimated 1.1% annual population growth. At a state level, the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority estimates a current shortage of 120,000 housing units across the state — on top of median household incomes not keeping pace with the increasing costs of home ownership. 

“If you fast forward 10 years and a hundred of these have been built somewhere in East Omaha, that’s 100 units that have taken the pressure off of wherever those people were living before,” Scheuerman said. “Whether they were in public housing or market rate housing or rental.”

Opportunities for students 

Paulina Garcia-Medrano, a UNL master’s student involved in the OurStory initiative, states in an email to SPN that she was drawn to the unique offerings and mission of the project. From South Omaha, she said she was motivated to make a difference in her community.  

Day said students conceptualize, research and develop innovative solutions while dealing with the real challenges of budgets, land constraints and stakeholders interested in the success of the project. 

By joining the OurStory team, Garcia-Medrano said, she felt that she and her classmates were opening up new career pathways.

“I was telling the students you can’t just imagine a 3,000 square foot West Omaha house squeezed down to 600 square feet,” Day said. “It just doesn’t work.”

To improve affordability, accessibility and adaptability, Day said, the team has come up with a “small houses system” — giving clients access to a range of customizable home designs to fit their individual circumstances. Aspects of these designs include energy-efficient technologies, low-maintenance requirements, prefabricated building components and time-saving techniques.

“It’s kind of like an IKEA house,” Day said. 

In order to continue progress in between school semesters, Scheuerman said Partners for Livable Omaha launched an internship program. She said initial support for the internship came from AARP and the American Institute of Architects. The internship is currently being funded by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, which has identified the need for labor and housing solutions across the state — not just in Greater Omaha.  

Scheuerman said she values the perspectives and lived experiences of the participating students as they represent the viewpoint of potential young buyers. She appointed Garcia-Medrano to be a member of the Partners for Livable Omaha’s board of directors. 

“I saw this opportunity to continue being part of the project, but also for future ones to come,” Garcia-Medrano said. 

Building momentum 

In the upcoming year, Day said FACT and Partners for Livable Omaha plan to complete the construction of its two Benson homes, release a catalogue of designs for the use of other developers and organizations and potentially begin the process of starting a new construction project. 

For Garcia-Medrano, she said she will continue assisting Partners for Livable Omaha while working towards becoming a licensed architect. She plans to graduate from UNL in May. 

“I am aiming to work at a firm that has a similar mission to Livable Omaha as it is the path I want to build on,” Garcia-Medrano said. 

More information on Partnerships for Livable Omaha and its impact can be found in its 2025 annual report. The OurStory exhibit at Joslyn Castle runs through Dec. 30. Visitors can view the displays during tours, special events, open houses and by appointment.