IowaWatch (https://www.iowawatch.org/tag/matt-hayek/)
A local housing provider’s accusation that city officials were using discriminatory means of deciding where to locate new assisted housing has halted discussion and progress in Iowa City.
Many of those working to solve Iowa City’s need for more affordable housing agree that a regional policy for Coralville, North Liberty and other communities in addition to Iowa City would be beneficial.
At 53, Rose LaGrange is living her dream.
She became a first-time homeowner in November 2009 with the help of a program administered by the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County, an organization that supports affordable housing by funding affordable home ownership, rental and transitional housing.
For more than a decade, Iowa City has grappled with a chronic social problem – how to provide adequate and affordable housing for people who don’t earn enough to pay for a place to live. The dilemma seems to have stumped and perhaps frustrated everyone involved – city officials, housing providers, the school district administrators, developers and especially the people these programs are supposed to help.