Iowa County contributes $3,900 to East Central Iowa Housing Trust Fund

MARENGO — Iowa County agreed to contribute $3,900 to the East Central Iowa Housing Trust Fund following an annual report from the Trust Fund’s Executive Director Deanna Robinson and Executive Director of East Central Iowa Council of Governments Karen Kurt.

ECICOG and the Housing Trust Fund serve Iowa, Benton, Washington, Jones, Johnson and Linn Counties.

“Our role is primarily to do planning, said Kurt of ECICOG. ”Most of our staff are planners by background.“ ECICOG also leverages state and federal resources for people and organizations in the region, she said.

In Iowa County, ECICOG has provided technical assistance to Iowa County landfill and written a grant for the landfill and competed a codification project for Victor, according to a document provided to Iowa County Supervisors.

ECICOG obtained a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant for wastewater treatment facility improvements in Marengo and $266,628 in federal assistance and $46,452 transportation capital assistance for Iowa County Transportation, the document says.

“And I know county budgets are very tight, but I will say the county contributions are critically important for a couple of reasons,” said Kurt. ECICOG uses those funds for matches for other grants, doubling the money, she said. That helps ECICOG fund outreach and some grant writing initiatives.

The money also keeps the organization operating. “The county contributions are less than 15% of our budget, so we are primarily self funded,” Kurt said.

Robinson said the Housing Trust Fund is funded through the real estate transfer tax. The Iowa Finance Authority appropriates the funds through grants, she said.

“This year we were eligible to apply for $140,000,” said Robinson. The grant requires a 25% local match, hence the request for $3,900 from Iowa County.

“That is the same as we requested last year,” said Robinson. “We know that budgets are tight. Our budget is holding steady.”

Supervisors agreed to contribute $3,900 to the organization. “It’s a great investment for Iowa County,” said Supervisor Chris Montross.

Robinson said the Trust Fund paid out $48,000 to three Iowa County households through the Federal Home Loan Bank home rehab program last year and almost $70,000 for the Victor senior housing rehab that started in 2024.

Since its inception in 2011, East Central Iowa Housing Trust Fund has dedicated nearly $1.1 million to Iowa County, assisting 156 Iowa County homeowners, according to HTF.

Housing Trust Fund will help homebuyers with down payments and will help families rid their homes of lead next year, Robinson said.

Leveraging a $20,000 local match from the Housing Trust Fund, more than $200,000 has been awarded from HOME Down Payment Assistance for five homebuyers in the region.

Through partnership with ECICOG, which wrote the grant, Housing Trust Fund provided nearly $300,000 in matching funds ($100,000 from the Trust Fund itself) and received a $3.1 million grant for lead abatement.

Housing and Urban Development funds will remediate the lead, said Robinson, and the Trust Fund money will be used to repair other problems found during the inspection process, such as roof or foundation issues.

The program will run through 2029 and is expected to help up to 90 families in the region, mostly in rural areas.

Lead is a concern in homes built before 1978, said Robinson. “Iowa’s one of the worst in the country,” she said. It has a lot of old houses.

Children must be tested for lead before they enter kindergarten in State of Iowa, Robinson said. Lead from old painted window sills and doors can become airborne, and children breath it in, she said.

No amount of lead in children’s blood is safe, said Robinson.

In 2023 in Iowa County, 33 children under the age of 6 — 10.5% of those tested — had elevated blood lead levels, according to data from the Iowa Department of Public Health.

On Oct. 28, 2021, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the blood lead reference value from 5.0 micrograms per deciliter to 3.5 μg/dL.

Updating the reference value encourages federal agencies, health departments, providers and communities to focus resources on children with the highest levels of lead in their blood, identify and eliminate sources of lead exposure and take more prompt actions to reduce the harmful effects of lead, says the CDC.