Iowa Rural Housing Readiness Assessment Planning Grant

Sacha Wise
515.348.6156
sacha.wise@iowaeda.com

This program provides funding to support the use of publicly available, online information and rural community efforts to interpret publicly available hard data to implement changes through development codes, local ordinances, and housing incentives specific to individual community needs. In partnership with Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach's Rural Housing Readiness Assessment workshops, funding from the program will empower communities to assess their current development environment and enact changes resulting in the creation of policies and procedures attractive to potential developers.

Funds must contribute to the completion of the housing assessment report, workshop, or implementation of the workshop outcomes within the contract period.

Local city and county governments and federally recognized tribal governments located in Iowa are eligible to apply. Eligible communities must have a population of less than 20,000 and not be contiguous to a city with a population greater than 40,000.

County-wide applications will be accepted if the county is one of the 88 least-populous counties in Iowa.

Up to $20,000

A $10,000 cash match is required.

Links to the application instructions and the online application portal are available on the program website.

Applicants are asked to establish a housing committee to guide the process. It is recommended that the committee include 7-10 individuals, such as elected officials, city staff, representatives from real estate and finance, nonprofit organizations, major employers, and concerned residents. Communities are also recommended to publicly advertise the opportunity to serve on the committee.