2000 Best Practice Awards

Best Practice: New Lawn Apartments

Anawim Housing Renovates Historic Apartment Building

Des Moines. Anawim Housing, in conjunction with the City of Des Moines HOME programs, Polk County Housing Trust Fund, Iowa Finance Authority and Federal Home Loan Bank, stepped in to restore what had once been a state-of-the-art luxury apartment building on a main inner-city thoroughfare. Neglected almost beyond repair, the structure, which was built in 1915, would not have survived another winter. The Pacesetter Company, Inc., supervised a complete renovation of seven three-bedroom apartments and one two-bedroom unit. The building is now called the New Lawn Apartments. The restoration earned the apartment building a spot on the Historical Register as a landmark property. The renovated building provided much-needed low-income housing for larger families. All of the families currently residing in the complex earn less than 50 percent of the area median income. In addition, the project serves to anchor rehabilitation of the surrounding neighborhood and has transformed what was once an eyesore into a beautiful landmark.

Contact: Stella Neill, Phone: (515) 244-8308
Tracking Number: 181
Winning Category: Geographical

Best Practice: Affordable Homeownership Program

Program Offers Downpayment Assistance to Low-Income Families

Sioux City. The Affordable Home Ownership Program provides downpayment assistance to help low-income families purchase their first home. The program offers qualifying low-income families with a forgivable loan/second mortgage, which they may use as a downpayment to cover closing costs on the purchase of a single-family home located within the city. At the end of five years, if the family has not sold or vacated the house, the loan is forgiven and the second mortgage is released. Applicants must attend the Home Ownership Pre-purchase Program offered by the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Siouxland. Applicants who meet program eligibility guidelines must find a home, negotiate the price and make financial arrangements with a private lender. This program is funded with proceeds from public housing sales and has helped 150 families place an average downpayment of $4,089.

Contact: Doug Grindberg, Phone: (712) 279-6276
Tracking Number: 300
Winning Category: Program (Community Builder)

Best Practice: Polk County, Iowa, Housing Trust Fund

Polk County Trust Fund Finances 838 Units of Affordable Housing

Polk County. The Polk County Housing Trust Fund is a public-private partnership working to improve and increase affordable housing for low-income families. Seven nonprofit housing providers form the trust which funds projects that could not secure financial support from any other source. The trust fund has financed 838 units of affordable housing. The fund supports six programs. They include supportive counseling and educational services to stabilize families; operating expense funding to stabilize nonprofit partners; capacity building funding to enable the expansion of operations of member nonprofits; development funding for rehabilitation or new construction; early stage predevelopment funding until permanent funding is secured; and technical assistance funding for the completion of housing needs assessments. Nonprofits belonging to the fund do not individually solicit financial support. This allows the corporate community to make contributions to one entity so that individual nonprofits can concentrate activities on helping the community instead of fundraising.

Contact: Jayne Jochem, Phone: (515) 883-2509
Tracking Number: 512
Winning Category: Program (Community Planning and Development)

Best Practice: Stay N Play Child Care Center

Public Housing Families Benefit from Stay N Play Child Care Center

Clinton. The Clinton Housing Authority, with the assistance of HUD and many local and state partners, has created a childcare center that enables Section 8 and public housing parents to obtain quality childcare at an affordable price. The Stay N Play Child Care Center offers age-appropriate activities, including a structured "preschool," a summer camp for school-aged children that centers around daily field trips and community involvement. In cooperation with the Iowa State University Extension Office, the Center offers a unique program that helps children learn about gardening as they raise vegetables to share with their classmates. Crucial to the success of this Best Practice is the Family Investment Center and computer lab/learning center immediately adjacent to Stay N Play. Parents can attend workshops taught by area colleges, federal agencies and private social workers on topics such as life skills, money management, self-esteem and parenting. The computer lab provides a well-equipped, quiet place for residents to complete school assignments or create resumes. In addition, the centers have provided nutritious breakfasts, lunches, and snacks to over 120 public housing and/or Section 8 families.

Contact: Debra Vath, Phone: (319) 243-1289
Tracking Number: 511
Winning Category: Geographical and Program (Public and Indian Housing)

Best Practice: NHS Homeownership Mobile Unit

Housing Assistance on Wheels: Mobile Field Office for Neighborhood Housing

Rural Iowa. After government downsizing caused the closing of more than 20 USDA Rural Development Field Offices in Iowa, a number of communities suddenly found themselves cut off from their connection to housing services, counseling and information. Recognizing this gap in coverage, Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS), a nonprofit agency based in central Iowa developed a simple and logical solution. The group acquired a 35-foot recreational vehicle and created a field office on wheels.

The mobile field office operates as a local point of contact, resources center and outreach hub for rural communities in southern Iowa lacking access to information on fail housing, homeownership and housing assistance resources. The mobile home enables interagency teas to visit rural areas periodically and is equipped to receive satellite broadcasts from the NHS home office, as well as broadcasts from HUD headquarters. The mobile field office allows rural communities immediate access to training materials and HUD broadcasts, such as speeches by Secretary Cuomo. Training sessions can be conducted by setting up chairs around the front of the recreational vehicle, and necessary retrofitting and accommodations have enabled the Winnebago to accommodate people with disabilities.

Beneficiaries of this program are under-served rural communities and populations, including many major immigrants groups, across southern Iowa.

Although the solution is highly nontraditional, the planning, development and funding was rather straightforward. The nonprofit Neighborhood Housing Service approached the state USDA/Rural Development office with the plan for a mobile unit to replace the closed field offices. Planning sessions were held, and funding possibilities were discussed for the acquisition and retrofitting of the mobile field unit. Ultimately, the project secured commitments from USDA/Rural Services to provide financial assistance, and from NHS to do the hands-on work needed to operate the unit and perform the outreach.

The mobile unit is tangible evidence of high-level cooperation between the nonprofit sector and a major federal agency, USDA/Rural Development. USDA funded the project with a customized mix of grants and loans, and Neighborhood Housing Services will service, staff and operate the mobile field office with funds from other sources. The project creatively addresses two issues: (1) The closure of more than 20 USDA/Rural Development field offices in Iowa, while needs remain to be met; and (2) The growth of under-served populations including expanding immigrant groups.

The mobile home, because of its mobility and the imaginative retrofit, has the capacity to serve nearly all of the 20 communities that recently lost service using the costs associated with only this one unique office and one staff.

Contact: Kathleen Moretz, Phone: (515) 277-6647
Tracking Number: 222
Winning Category: Program (Community Builder)

Best Practice: Building Blocks for a Better Tomorrow Through the Community Housing Development Corporation

Community Housing Development Corporation Builds Low Income Housing

Des Moines. The mission of the Community Housing Development Corporation is to provide safe, decent, affordable homeownership opportunities for families with incomes below 80 percent of the area median income. This year, 50 homes will be completed, representing more than $1.2 million in construction costs and $50,000 in owner-occupied repair services. The program uses job trainees to revitalize neighborhoods by renovating homes surrounding city schools. In one neighborhood, the renovation of 26 homes spurred other enhancements within the community including rehabilitation of the local school. The organization has implemented a bilingual job training program in Spanish, Vietnamese and Bosnian to help unemployed or underemployed non-English speakers learn valuable construction skills while learning English. For homeowners living near the renovation projects, repair services are also provided at reduced rates.

Contact: Carol Bower, Phone: (515) 244-7798
Tracking Number: 551
Winning Category: Geographical

Content Archived: April 20, 2011