Empower Rural Iowa (ERI) - Rural Housing Assessment Grant Program

Grants to Iowa local government agencies and Tribal governments to collect and analyze data related to housing and development in rural communities. The purpose of this program is to provide communities with the information necessary to address local needs. Eligible agencies must exist in and benefit a community in Iowa with a population of 20,000 or fewer and not contiguous to a city with a population of 40,000 or greater. County-wide projects must be one of the 88 least-populous counties in Iowa. Extra consideration is provided to applications with projects supporting housing initiatives endorsed by the Iowa Great Places Citizen’s Advisory Board, as well as those located in a community of 10,000 or fewer.

The Rural Housing Assessment Grant program supports the use of publicly available, online information through the “Profile of Iowa” tool and rural community efforts to interpret publicly available hard data to implement changes through development codes, local ordinances and housing incentives specific to individual community needs. This program is a result of the Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative’s 2018 Recommendations.

In partnership with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach’s Rural Housing Readiness Assessment workshops, program funding will empower communities to assess their current development environment and enact changes resulting in the creation of policies and procedures attractive to potential developers.

Eligible Use of Funding: The Rural Housing Assessment Grant Program provides funding for housing assessment data collection and ISU Extension and Outreach Rural Housing Assessment Readiness Workshop. Funds may be used to fulfill that process at the discretion of the grant recipient but must contribute to the completion of the housing assessment report, workshop or implementation of the workshop outcomes within the contract period.

Eligible Project Requirements:

Requirements for Rural Housing Assessment Interpretation and Implementation grant awards include, but are not limited to the following:

• Applicants must demonstrate the capacity for grants administration.
• Applications must demonstrate the feasibility of completing the proposed activities with the funds requested and contract period.
• Applications must identify and describe any other sources of funding for the proposed activities.
• Applications must agree to utilize information available on the Iowa Profile tool.
  
• Applications must agree to contract with ISU Extension and Outreach for the facilitated Rural Housing Assessment Readiness Workshop.
• Applications must identify any additional partner organizations that will be utilized in additional data collection or implementation processes.