A coalition of community groups packed the Capitol Rotunda Tuesday to shed light on the state's housing crisis."We are currently experiencing a perfect storm in the housing market with increases in building costs and interest rates increasing the gap between the cost of housing and what consumers can afford," said Bri Full corridinator at Spark CDI."The number of evictions being filed is rapidly increasing," said Destiny Fant a tenant assistant specialist for Together in Omaha."Property managers and owners have taken advantage of their relief funds and then evicted those tenants once they were no longer eligible," Fant said. They along with six other groups lobbied senators on a couple of dozen bills.Some call for investing hundreds of millions of dollars in more low- and middle-income housing projects and to help first-time homeowners. Other bills give tenants more rights and legal assistance during evictions."We know that housing is a human right. I'll say that again. We know that housing is a human right," Sen. Tony Vargas said.He said it's a non-partisan issue."This is whether or not working families have a safe, healthy place to live. No matter what your income level," Vargas said.It's a statewide issue according to Sen Tom Briese of Albion."It is a crisis in rural and urban Nebraska," Briese said.Briese said his own son had a problem trying to move back closer to home and could only find one house for sale."We have to overcome this shortage," Briese said.He has introduced a bill to provide tax credits for rural workforce housing.He said it's crucial to solving the workforce shortage crisis."The state chamber tells us there's over 50,000 jobs unfilled. But that workforce crisis is fueled by our housing shortage," Briese said."The key really is housing, because without housing, without available housing, none of those others make a difference," Briese said.Owning a home made a big difference for Tara Evans."What a blessing it has been for me and my family. My home is like a security blanket," Evans said.Twenty years ago, Habitat for Humanity helped the single mother of three get into the home she just made the last mortgage payment on.It breaks the cycle of not owning anything. When you rent, you pay, you pay, pay, pay. And at the end of the day, you have nothing to show for it," Evans said.She has written two books and become a quilter. Her kids are grown and successful and follow their mother's example."How to save for the future. How to allocate so much towards housing and all the other expenses. And how to live within our means so that one day they would be homeowners as well," Evans said.That's why the groups believe it all starts with affordable housing."I believe housing is key. It really is," Briese said.Here are the bills the coalition is supporting. Housing Development BillsLB 113 $21 million to NIFA for the low-income Housing Tax Credit.LB 249 Change Provisions of the Rural Workforce Housing Investment Act.LB 242 Create a Nebraska Development of Housing and Urban Development.LB 462 Increase construction cap on workforce housing.LB 481 Adopt The Housing Incentive District Act.LB 504, LB 741 Appropriate funds for the Rural Workforce Housing Fund and Nebraska Affordable Housing Trust Fund.LB 629 Change provisions for the Middle-income Workforce housing Investment Act.LB 707 Provide grants for cities of the primary class from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.LB 714 Change Provisions of the Affordable Housing Act.LB 786 $100 million to DED to contract with NIFA for housing in a city of the metropolitan class.LB 789 $100 million to DED to contract with NIFA for innovated housing solutions.LB 801 Appropriate funding to the Middle-income Workforce Housing Investment to extend the QCT Affordable Housing program and to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Tenants' Rights BillsLB 8 Changes to the Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Act to protect mobile home rentersLB 175 Seal records and provide a "clean slate" for certain renters, including those whose evictions where dismissed.LB 182 Ensure compliance with state evictions data reporting requirements.LB 248 Prohibit discrimination against renters based on source of income.LB 270 Require landlords to comply with local rental registration ordinances before evictionLB 278 Ensure DED and NIFA use best efforts to obtain state/federal grants for housing for people with disabilities.LB 545 Allow evicted tenants at least ten days until removal.LB 715 Require Governor apply for emergency rental assistance under ARPA.