IOWA CITY, Iowa (KWWL) – Iowa City city councilors passed a resolution responding to protester demands Tuesday that allocated $1 million to equity programs and a new affordable housing program.
The city already has an affordable housing action plan, and hands out around $9 million every year in housing vouchers, but residents and activists want to make sure the new plan reaches all neighborhoods and more people of color.
“Our voices are not always heard and some times -many times- we’ve been spoken for,” Angie Jordan said, director of the South District Neighborhood Association.
The city has worked on affordable housing on the southeast side, where there’s a high concentration of people of color, and pledges to continue doing so.
“We look at barriers to affordable housing, especially for people of color,” Tracy Hightshoe said, neighborhood and development services director for the city.
The city is required to report data on demographics for people on housing vouchers every year to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city reviews that data every year and analyzes it in an analysis to impediments to fair housing report every five years.
In the 2020 annual report, 48% of homes on housing vouchers in Iowa City had a Black or African-American head of household.
The city has done a few programs in the area to promote home-ownership among low-income residents; some of whom are Caucasian.
“The rents go higher and higher and you basically get priced-out of wherever you live,” Natalie Odilo said, who’s lived on the southeast side for 7 years but just recently became a homeowner again through the city’s home investment partnership program.
The money to equity programs and a new affordable housing program is part of a 17-point resolution the city council passed Tuesday in response to demands from protesters in Iowa City.
source:news24
