Over Half-Million Dollars Awarded for Homeless Assistance in North Iowa

The Iowa Finance Authority is giving over a half-million dollars in grants to local agencies to help with homeless assistance programs.

Iowa Finance Authority director Debi Durham says the awards will help thousands of Iowans in their time of need. She adds that Iowa’s homeless service professionals work tirelessly to help get Iowans back on their feet and into permanent housing, and the funding will aid in those efforts.

Cedar Valley Hospice in Waterloo, which covers 12 counties including Butler, Bremer, Chickasaw, Floyd, Fayette, Franklin, and Mitchell, will get over $66,000 from the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, a program designed to assist persons who have been diagnosed with HIV & AIDS and their families who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. 

Primary Health Care, based in Des Moines, covers a 27-county area including Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Kossuth, Winnebago and Worth counties. They were awarded over $474,000 from the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS.

The Community Kitchen of North Iowa, based in Mason City, will receive over $18,000 from the Iowa Shelter Assistance Fund, which helps with operational costs of homeless and domestic violence shelters, essential services for the homeless, and evaluation and reporting services

More than $5.7 million in grants were approved for 48 agencies statewide.