Jaime and her two daughters, Taylor and Casey.

Blair Mother, Daughters Find Their Home in West Valley Neighborhood 

Jaime Priester was determined to find a home in Blair for her family. She and her daughters, Taylor, 14, and Casey, 12, lived in a one-bedroom apartment with roof damage. 

“I think we drove down every street in Blair. We started driving down Park Street and saw the Habitat (for Humanity of Omaha) signs and the houses,” Priester said. “What is this? Is this like a sign from God? It has to be.” 

Five of the 10 single-family homes Habitat Omaha plans to build over the next five years as part of the City of Blair’s affordable housing master plan have been completed. The homes are in the West Valley neighborhood near the former Dana College campus at 24th and Nebraska streets. 

Priester and her daughters walked around the houses before she scanned the QR code on the sign and applied to purchase a home through Habitat Omaha’s Home Journey Program. The program offers financial education, affordable mortgage loans and community resources to help hardworking people buy homes and build a lasting foundation for future generations. 

After a couple of hiccups, Priester learned that she would get one of the houses – a dark gray, three-bedroom — on 24th Street. 

“We’ve really needed this. All three of us have been dealing with depression and healing together. It’s just been a roller coaster for us,” she said through tears. “To get out of that apartment would really signify how far we’ve come and how much work we’ve put in on taking care of ourselves.” 

Priester and her daughters moved into the one-bedroom apartment after her divorce. It was the only one available.  

“We were looking for a rental house that I could maybe buy that was cheap enough. There was just nothing,” she said. “We looked at a few fixer-uppers, but they were too far gone.” 

 The girls share the bedroom, sleeping in a bunk bed, while Priester sleeps in the living room.  Priester works remotely doing medical billing for Nebraska Medicine and uses the living room as her office.  

The new home will give Priester and her daughters something they have been longing for: their own rooms. Priester plans to finish the basement to include an office, spare bedroom, bathroom, and workshop for her projects, which include refinishing furniture. 

The mother of two is also looking forward to cooking with her daughters in their new kitchen, which is larger than the kitchen in their apartment. 

When she saw the house number, Priester knew they had found the home right for them. It was the same as their apartment. 

“There are just too many signs being thrown at us,” Priester said. “I just knew this house was going to be the house.”