Notre Dame Sisters of Omaha, Nebraska

Seven Oaks of Florence
offers affordable housing to everyone 55 years of age and older regardless of race, color, sex, religion, marital status, handicap, or national origin.

Seven Oaks of Florence : http://www.sevenoaksofflorence.org

Seven Oaks of Florence is affordable, independent, enriched housing for elderly persons. It is located on the site of the former Notre Dame Academy in the Florence area of Omaha. Florence and the Seven Oaks community have much in common. The residents of Florence have long been a diverse social and economic group, active in their community, interested in their neighborhood, and supportive of family, business and historical and artistic activities. Seven Oaks of Florence is patterned after the community it serves, providing the opportunity for aging persons of all faiths to remain an active part of the community in which they lived and worked and raised their families.
In 1990 the Notre Dame Sisters, while studying the possible uses for the former Notre Dame Academy building and surrounding grounds, found that Florence and the surrounding area of northeast Omaha showed a need for affordable independent elderly housing. In 1990, the area contained 5,600 elderly persons, a population that would remain stable over the next 20 years. Of these, 1,500 were living alone; almost half of the elderly in this area were earning less than $15,000 annually. A total of 1,507 elderly households were eligible for HUD Section 202 housing, yet there was not adequate subsidized housing available in the area, forcing long-time residents to search outside their supportive community for help as they aged and their income levels remained the same or decreased.
Seven Oaks of Florence was conceived to meet this need. The Notre Dame Sisters remain involved with Notre Dame Housing Inc. as an extension of their mission to meet the unmet needs of others.
The first building of one-bedroom apartments subsidized by HUD for very low-income elderly was completed in July, 1997. The second building of one-bedroom apartments subsidized by HUD was completed in September 1998. The third section of Seven Oaks consists of one, two-bedroom and studio apartments for low- to middle-income elderly, created in the East wing of the convent building, the former Notre Dame Academy classrooms. This renovation was financed with funds from historic tax credits, foundation and corporation grants, donations from individuals, HOME funds from the City of Omaha and Low Income Housing Tax Credits. This third phase was ready for occupancy in January 1999.
Now in full operation, Seven Oaks of Florence is fulfilling the vision of the Notre Dame Sisters, allowing its residents to "age in place" in a setting where they feel safe, experience dignity, and know that the spiritual dimension of their lives is honored.

For more information about Florence, Nebraska, contact:
Florence Historical Foundation
PO Box 12331
Florence Station
Omaha NE 68112

http://www.historicflorence.org/