Here We Grow hosted a workforce housing workshop showcasing opportunities for collaboration to take advantage of available funding and housing planning support for communities. The workshop, held in response to community requests, took place on July 25 at the Iowa State University Extension office in Altoona.
Expanding the supply of workforce housing in the current market increasingly depends on collaborations between developers and various private and public entities working in unison. This was highlighted when team members from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach discussed a range of strategies they have developed with communities as part of the Rural Housing Readiness Assessment Program. Extension staff shared that communities most likely to succeed are those that take the time to establish stakeholder engagement early and build consensus and commitment to a set of local goals.
Participants also learned about two key development programs managed by state government that together are support hundreds of units of housing produced in Iowa each year - the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program managed by the Iowa Finance Authority and Iowa's Workforce Housing Tax Credit, managed by the Iowa Economic Development Authority.
Derek Folden, representing both state agencies, shared tips for how communities can learn about these programs by requesting information on similar developments build recently in neighboring communities or interviewing developers who have been funded in other rounds. Visiting a developer's existing properties or reaching out to other communities where a developer has worked can help establish their credentials and bring communities peace of mind.
Finally, Michael Kiernan from Hatch Kiernan Galloway Development shared case study information regarding his team's recently completed conversion of the historic Winterset, Iowa high school to affordable senior housing - a project which required years of collaboration and 13 different public and private funding sources to complete.
Together, the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, Capital Crossroads, and all our partners emphasized that we are available to continue dialogue with communities to provide the ideas and support needed to realize local housing goals.
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