A project aimed at providing housing for former inmates and their families is set to start construction this month in Lincoln.
Bridges to Hope is starting construction on 18 tiny homes this month in Lincoln near 27th Street and Leighton Avenue.
The project, which has a $3.2 million budget, will provide formerly incarcerated individuals and their families with the resources to be introduced back into the community.
Bridges to Hope, a Lincoln-based nonprofit, provides services to reacclimate formerly incarcerated people.
With the help of Millard Lumber, White Castle Roofing and other sponsors, Bridges to Hope is seeking ways to incorporate the community into the project through fundraising.
Hope Village will provide residents with 250- to-500-square-foot homes, each with a kitchenette, bedroom and bathroom. Additional community spaces will offer residents a full kitchen, laundry room, meeting rooms, a donation center and a community garden.
Hope Village also plans to offer peer support, life skills training, mental health and substance use recovery services and employment assistance for residents.
“That whole village is integral for recidivism rates because typically if you don't have a safe or a healthy place to then get back on your feet and to get up and go to a job or to go, to school or a healthy support system, you may find yourself falling back into ways of the past,” said Hope Village development assistant Karen Pease.
Data from the Nebraska Department of Corrections shows 28.4% of released prison inmates returned to prison within three years because of a repeat offense or a parole violation.
Pease said the project has a goal of bringing that number down to 15%.
Nebraska has among the lowest recidivism rate in the country. Bridges of Hope Executive Director and founder of Hope Village Rhonda Mattingly said having additional programs will help keep that number down.
“Too often, people returning from incarceration face overwhelming barriers and little support,” Mattingly said in a press release. “Hope Village will be a place where individuals can find safety, dignity and a real path forward.”
The housing project will be constructed by currently incarcerated people from Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, and those on work-release will assemble the homes on-site, according to Pease.
“It truly is a tangible way for the individuals in Tecumseh to see that this could also be their second chance,” Pease said.
Bridges of Hope is seeking donations to pay the remaining $1 million for construction costs.
“It's all for the greater good of our community," Pease said. "If we have a healthy village campus where people can see that people are capable of change and turning around their lives, then our community doesn't carry the stigma that people who have been incarcerated make mistakes, and they're going to go back to their same mistakes, and we change that mindset."
The project’s expected completion date is fall 2026.