Advocates in Iowa work to make more housing available

Advocates are working to make 42,000 new homes available to Iowans by 2030, which is spearheading efforts to create more affordable living opportunities during Fair Housing Month.

Affordable housing is an issue across the country as interest rates and a tight real estate market have sent single-family home prices and rent costs sharply higher.

Ashley Jared with the Iowa Finance Authority said state officials are using the monthlong opportunity to highlight efforts to make housing more available to people in the state who have historically been shut out.

“The lowest end of the income scale we are finding that those folks are the most housing-cost burdened, paying more than 30% of your income in your rent and utilities,” Jared explained. “We have the need to get them into housing that they can afford.”

This is the 55th anniversary of the federal Fair Housing Act, established in 1968 by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to eliminate housing discrimination.

Jared pointed out the Finance Authority has created online tools designed for homebuyers, and for renters has added more filters to find affordable housing regardless of circumstances and location, something she noted renters told them was missing.

“We hear all the time that they are unable to find a home that might fit their budget or their needs for their family or near their school or their work or family,” Jared observed. “That’s really why we created a gateway to try to connect those renters with landlords in their area all throughout the state.”

Jared added when it comes to homebuyers, the biggest obstacle is having enough cash saved for a down payment, especially with home prices on the rise in Iowa, even if only slightly.