Shelter House is applying to a multimillion-dollar federal grant that would help the organization construct more permanent supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness.
The new shelter would consist of at least 36 one-bedroom apartments along with other amenities — including an onsite clinic with services for health care and mental health support and supportive employment opportunities — Christine Hayes, Shelter House’s director of development and communications, said.
The organization already has other similar units, such as Cross Park Place and 501 Southgate, Hayes said.
Tenants within the proposed supportive housing unit would utilize project-based vouchers, which is a housing voucher that is attached to a specific “project,” or housing unit, Hayes said. At its Nov. 4 meeting, the Iowa City City Council dedicated 36 project-based vouchers to the proposed new housing unit if Shelter House wins the grant.
The units would also be for individuals who are experiencing chronic homelessness as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Hayes said. According to the department’s website, a person is defined as chronically homeless when they are homeless with a disability and live in an unsafe place or emergency shelter.
Additionally, a person must be continuously homeless for a year or on at least four different occasions in the last three years, as long as those occasions add up to 12 months. This can also apply to individuals who meet these criteria and resided in an institutional care facility for less than 90 days, as well as a family who meets the criteria.
According to meeting documents, the city currently administers 60 of these vouchers to Shelter House for Cross Park Place and 501 Southgate.
This support from the city council strengthens Shelter House’s application for the grant and ensures there will be some support in financing the new project because the vouchers mean that income from rent is guaranteed, Hayes said.
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“It was important for us to know that the city council was eager to make that allocation so that way we know that it’s viable,” Hayes said.
The grant Shelter House is applying for comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Hayes said. Shelter House was nominated to apply for this grant, which is a part of the department’s Balance of Continuum of Care Program, according to meeting documents.
The organization is applying for the full grant amount, which is $7.5 million, she said. Additionally, Shelter House is required to raise $1.8 million to be able to use the grant.
At the City Council’s Nov. 4 meeting, councilors congratulated Shelter House on their nomination and expressed support for the project.
“Congratulations to Shelter House [for] being nominated,” Mayor Pro Tem Mazahir Salih said at the meeting. “This is amazing.”
At the meeting, Tracy Hightshoe, the city’s director of neighborhood and development services, said while this project would not increase the number of housing choice vouchers in the community, it would provide an opportunity for individuals who are having a difficult time finding a landlord who will rent to them.
“It doesn’t increase the number of vouchers available, but it does provide some flexibility within the system and gets folks that typically wouldn’t be able to utilize a voucher because they can’t find a landlord — they’d be able to be housed,” Hightshoe said.
Hayes said the grant application will be submitted in late November, and it is yet not known when Shelter House will hear back about the status of their application.