Strategic Plan:
Coordination

The City of Iowa City has a tradition of working closely with both housing and service agencies in the area. Since the City is the Public Housing Authority (PHA), activities in this area are also fairly well coordinated, particularly with the Department of Human Services, the Work Force Office, and with a non-profit agency providing living skills and housing location assistance. Until about 1995, housing activities were kept somewhat separate from other community development activities, in part because there were two citizen advisory committees to the Council. The two committees were the Housing Commission, and the Committee on Community Needs. The City consolidated those two committees into the Housing and Community Development Commission; this body will strive to include a representative member of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board.

The Johnson County Human Services Coordinator works closely with the Community Development office as well as the United Way of Johnson County. United Way holds joint hearings with Iowa City, Coralville and Johnson County annually for allocation of funds to human service agencies who make a single application for funding from all four groups. This coordinated funding procedure is extremely helpful in reducing duplication of services and ensuring adequate funding. Non-profit housing providers are part of these agency hearings also.

Currently there are only a few private for-profit developers providing affordable housing in Iowa City. The high cost of land and construction as well as the demands of the housing market, make this a thankless task. The City will continue its efforts to work with other for-profit developers.

The City also works closely with the State's Finance Authority and the Department of Economic Development which administers the State's HUD funds. Most housing projects in Iowa City include not only City but also various State funding sources. Local private lenders also assist with these projects.

The PHA program operates countywide both in the rural areas and in other smaller communities. One recent effort in housing has seen the creation of the Johnson County Housing Task Force. This group is comprised of municipal and county officials who are discussing housing issues, needs and strategies throughout the County. Similarly, most human service agencies operate on a countywide level. The City plans to work on more coordination within the county and with smaller governmental jurisdictions, in areas such as housing rehabilitation, transportation and economic development. It plans to do this through the Johnson County Council of Governments (JCCOG).