A group of residents in Bertrand have a common vision: bring affordable housing to town. They are the Bertrand Community Builders, L.L.C they hope with their company to make investments in the Bertrand area.

According to the group, 57% of homes in Bertrand are over 60 years old, they said the village hasn't had new housing since 2008. They added that Bertrand has been unable to maintain available housing inventory to support their population.

After multiple conversations about the housing issues in the area, community members said they needed to do something about it. They got ahold of a number of different groups in Phelps County. They plan to build affordable housing and eventually increase the number of residents in town. According to the group, their population has declined 10% since 2000.

“On the board outside of town, when you come in, it says the population is 750, it’s been 750 as long as I can remember," said Scott Ford, member of the Bertrand Community Builders. "If we don’t do something to be pro-active, we are going to continue to slip backwards, and then pretty soon we won't have a school, or pretty soon you won’t have a grocery store."

Residents started this group due to the multiple housing needs they are seeing in the village.

“We have everything from families that need housing, we have people needing their employees to have housing, either that’s in the feedlot or the farming communities,” said the group's treasurer Mandy Sand.

The group is currently working on three properties with the help of the Bertrand Community Foundation.

“If we find a property, they will have money aside they will put into demoing," Sand said.

One of their houses they are working on is beyond repair. The Bertrand Community Foundation will help with the demo work. Another property they purchased is a two-bedroom, one-bathroom, they are looking at how to renovate it. There's another location they are looking at, to maybe build some duplexes on.

"There's a lot of possibilities, there's really no wrong answers now, but we just really need to do something," Ford said.

Some groups in other Nebraska towns and smaller cities have done similar projects addressing housing shortages.

"They have done some modern homes. They do these projects for around $135,000 to $150,000, so we could work on doing some starter homes," Ford said.

Bertrand Community Builders, L.L.C will operate as a business. Each member would make an initial contribution of $1,000, to be a member of the company. Starting in January of 2023, they would make monthly contributions of $100, or an annual contribution of $1,200.

“People will actually be investing in this and investing in their community," Ford said.

Sand said there have been multiple people trying to find housing in Bertrand. A family from Colorado found a place to live in Bertrand over a year ago, the father is now a member of the group.

"You guys are most certainly some of the most blessed communities that I know still exists in America today," he said.

“That was pretty exciting, they came with their family, that helped the school system, and which was a big push as to why we want to do this,” Sand said.

“They want to be able to know they can walk down our street, and not have to fear for the crime," Ford added.

The group is doing informational meetings to tell everyone about their goals to fight the housing shortage.

“It would be nice to hear just what people in the community see for a need, and what they would like to see done in Bertrand,” Sand said.

They hope to get more investors. Next year, they'll have their first annual meeting and select a board of directors, and appoint an investment group to look at all of the projects. Their goal is to make a profit but also to growth the community and give families a place to reside.

“I feel like, we are small, but we have residents that care a lot and want to see Bertrand succeed," Sand said.