(Getty Images)
OMAHA — An effort to update the City of Omaha’s electrical code, typically not a huge headline-maker, has sparked a bit of fireworks and divided the lawmaking body of Nebraska’s largest city.
Representatives of the region’s homebuilding industry are among the most vocal, saying an updated version of the code, which was narrowly passed by the Omaha City Council last week, includes a handful of new requirements that threaten to set back the statewide push for affordable housing.
Nick Dolphens of the Metro Omaha Builders Association said that while the upgrades in question may not amount to more than a couple thousand dollars in additional costs per new house they reflect the kinds of regulatory demands that he says keep piling on to drive up construction prices.
“The battle for affordable housing is won, and lost $500 at a time,” Dolphens said in a letter to the council. “The problem has been a ‘death by 10,000 cuts’ for decades. We are all losing.”