Housing programs help residents find homes, transition into stable lives

OMAHA, Neb.—Having a stable living environment is crucial to mental health and upward mobility.

Those are words that The Salvation Army’s Omaha Social Services (OSS) Department lives by.  Its array of local housing programs helps the community’s less fortunate improve their lives.

The first is the Renaissance Housing program located on the Renaissance Village campus near 36^th and Cuming streets.  It includes 33 fully furnished units; eight are three-bedroom, 15 are two-bedroom, and 10 are studio apartments.

“It is serving low-income and homeless individuals and families,” said housing director Kyle Zinke. 

In 2025, Zinke said the program served 229 people in 82 households, including 134 children and 95 adults.

"Our gold standard that we're always looking for is to be able to have people move from our program directly into permanent housing," he said.

One of those currently in the program is Tinice Jones, who came over following five months of substance use treatment at Nebraska Family Works.

"Going from there to here at Salvation Army Renaissance, it's a change because I don't have someone following me around, telling me, 'Hey, make sure you clean up here' or checking to make sure you're doing your daily living activities,” she said.  “There's more freedom."

Jones said that helped her grow as a person.

"It helps me to wake up and not be in a sour mood.  It makes me want to get up and follow through and take care of the things that I need to take care of."

Renaissance Housing does more than provide roofs over clients’ heads.  Zinke and his staff work with them on budgeting, taking care of their mental and physical health, searching for housing, putting together resumes, and job hunting.

All that while clients continue to stay on the right path.

"I go to therapy,” Jones said.  “I do those things that they tell you to do to maintain our sobriety, and it's working for me."

"If not for the Renaissance program, I don't know where I would be.  I'd probably still be homeless."

Zinke said the program’s set length is six months.

“Clients are available for some extensions if they are working the program and moving toward housing goals."

The Salvation Army pays a portion of all clients’ rents.  How much clients make determines what they pay.  Someone who makes nothing does not pay at all, while those with paychecks pay up to 30 percent of their incomes.

Program funding comes via grants from the Nebraska Homeless Assistance Program (NHAP) and the United Way, as well as other sources.

Zinke said for those with the highest needs in the community, there is the HUD-funded program called Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH).

"To be able to qualify for PSH, you have to have disability and chronic homelessness,” he said.  "Over half of our current PSH clients came to us directly from being street homeless."

PSH served 35 adults and five children in 2025.

Unlike the on-campus housing that the Renaissance program provides, PSH units are located off-campus – at various sites across town.

"We [work with] local landlords and properties, and then [our clients] are housed there,” Zinke said.  "The Salvation Army is actually the lease holder."

“For those that can be successful and move on, we also hope that they can then be able to take over their lease down the line."

However, he added that others in the program will likely need some type of assistance going forward.

In the end, Zinke is enthusiastic about the PSH program’s impact.

"If they weren't in this type of program, they would be somewhere where they would be unsafe, unable to move forward."

Another temporary housing program that OSS offers is Mental Health Respite.  It provides a slower transition back into the community.

"We provide two sites that have 32 beds total -- for a total stay of 28 days -- that will give temporary shelter or housing to individuals who are diagnosed with a severe mental illness and, most often, have recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital," said Ree Reimers, who directs both the housing department and Behavioral Health Services.

In addition to all those programs, there’s yet another program located at the 36^th & Cuming campus.

The Thomas Lyle Apartments provide transitional housing for two separate groups.

The first is the VA Community Assistance Support Services (VA-CASS) program.

"It is a grant per diem program, so we have a grant through the VA,” said Community Behavioral Health program director Erica Beisch.

The second program is Intensive Community Service (ICS).

“It is designed for people with severe, persistent mental illness, like schizoaffective, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder," Beisch said.

ICS aims to find stable housing for them.

“They have a case manager that they meet with six or more times a month,” Beisch said. 

She added that the program is Region 6 funded.

“So if they don't have income, it is kind of balanced by that.  If they do have income, we ask that they pay 30 percent of whatever their income is."

Beisch says ICS and VA-CASS are making a difference in the Omaha metro.

"Without these programs, a lot of [clients] may end up homeless or on somebody's couch,” she said.