Des Moines, Iowa — The regional housing trust fund that helps people in our area has received a portion of nine million dollars in grants awarded to such funds statewide.
The Iowa Finance Authority Board of Directors has announced the award of a total of more than $9 million in grants to 27 Local Housing Trust Funds to support local housing initiatives. The grant awards are made available through the Local Housing Trust Fund program and are expected to assist more than 2,100 families.
The Northwest Iowa Regional Housing Trust Fund serves Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, and Sioux Counties. They received about $390,000 from the finance authority.
Iowa Finance Authority Executive Director Debi Durham tells us the 2022 Local Housing Trust Fund awards represent the largest amount allocated through the program for local housing initiatives since the program’s inception. She says that the legislature recognized the Local Housing Trust Fund program as a highly successful funding mechanism for advancing housing opportunities for Iowans last session by increasing the amount of eligible funding for the program. She says, “This funding increase will soon make a very real impact on Iowans and our communities.”
The grant funds will be used for initiatives such as preserving aging housing stock, subsidizing local rental and down payment assistance programs, providing low-interest loans or grants to assist Iowans with home rehabilitation, financing construction of new single-family housing for low-income Iowans and supporting housing for persons with disabilities and homeless assistance programs.
