South Omaha Terrace

Southside Terrace Homes (also known as Southside Terrace Garden Apartments, South Omaha Projects)  

Opened in 1940 as one of Omaha's earliest large-scale public housing developments, Southside Terrace was built south of 30th and Q Streets to provide affordable homes for working-class families, many of them immigrants and laborers tied to the nearby stockyards and meatpacking industry. Covering about 36 acres with roughly 360–363 barracks-style units in dozens of low-rise buildings, it housed over 1,300 residents at its peak and became a vital community anchor in South Omaha. Over the decades, it served waves of residents, including significant numbers of Somali and Sudanese refugees in recent years, while facing chronic maintenance issues, aging infrastructure, and the stigma of concentrated poverty. In 2022, the Omaha Housing Authority secured a $50 million federal Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant to transform the site—the last major multi-family public housing complex in Nebraska—into a mixed-income neighborhood. Phased redevelopment began in 2023–2024, with initial demolitions of select buildings (starting with two in early 2024) to make way for new construction, including four-story apartments, townhomes, and walk-ups. As of 2025–2026, much of the original complex has been or is being razed across five phases, replaced by modern, integrated housing that preserves affordability while improving livability and community connections.