Elm Creek

Nebraska has enacted a partial-preemption framework through the Municipal Density and Missing Middle Housing Act (LB 866, 2020), codified within Neb. Rev. Stat. § 19-5501 et seq. LB 866 requires Nebraska cities to either adopt their own affordable-housing action plan by deadline (larger cities by January 2023, smaller cities by January 2024) or fall under a default state-mandated plan that effectively ends single-family-only zoning, allowing missing-middle housing types (duplex, triplex, fourplex, townhouse, ADU) in currently single-family-zoned areas. The Act does NOT include a stand-alone, by-right ADU mandate that overrides every city's zoning; LB 1166 (2024, Sen. Wayne / referred to Urban Affairs Committee) would have done that — requiring municipalities to allow at least one ADU by right on any single-family lot — but the bill stalled in committee after a contentious 2024-01-30 hearing and has not advanced. The 2025-2026 legislative session has continued to debate ADU preemption (carryover discussions and revised vehicles) but no statewide ADU-only preemption bill has cleared the legislature as of 2026-04-26.

Nebraska Investment Finance Authority (NIFA), the state housing finance agency, does not operate an ADU-specific loan or grant product as of 2026-04-26. NIFA's homebuyer programs (NIFA Homebuyer Assistance Program with down-payment and closing-cost assistance, plus the standard NIFA First Home and Military Home programs) can be used on a primary residence with an existing or planned ADU when the underlying mortgage program criteria are met. NIFA's Workforce Housing Pilot Program (created 2016) provides competitive financing or credit enhancement for housing developments in qualifying counties and could touch ADU-style units within larger workforce-housing projects. NIFA also passes through the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and administered LIHTC Pandemic Gap Funding for affordable rental developments, neither of which is a homeowner-facing ADU instrument.

• NIFA Homebuyer Assistance Program
• NIFA First Home Program
• NIFA Workforce Housing Pilot Program

Nebraska does not operate a statewide pre-approved ADU plan catalog, statewide impact-fee waiver statute, statewide streamlined-review mandate, or per-ADU rebate / incentive program as of 2026-04-26. The Municipal Density and Missing Middle Housing Act (LB 866) is the closest state-level ADU-touching policy: it requires either a local action plan or fallback to a default plan that legalizes ADUs and other missing-middle types in single-family zones. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund administered by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development funds local affordable-housing initiatives but does not target ADU construction directly. The Rural Workforce Housing Investment Fund (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-12,193) provides matching grants for workforce-housing projects in non-metro counties; some recipient projects have included ADU-style units.

• Affordable Housing Trust Fund
• Rural Workforce Housing Investment Fund
• Municipal Density and Missing Middle Housing Act default plan provisions