Community Housing Development Corporation
Since 1995, Community Housing Development Corporation has pursued its mission to provide and sustain safe, decent affordable housing for low- to moderate-income individuals, while further revitalizing neighborhoods through the pursuit of other affordable housing opportunities.
A perfect example of that, says CHDC Executive Director Carol Bower, is a project proposed by the City of Des Moines and the River Bend Neighborhood Association. Their idea: Take a large old home at 1800 Seventh St., 110 years old and now a public nuisance, and rehabilitate it into a home where someone might want to live.
Success was evident in that the home was featured in the River Bend Neighborhood home tour. “Familiar with the ‘before’ pictures CHDC takes to show what our projects looked like at acquisition, staff members didn’t recognize the ‘after’ pictures because the house is now so beautiful,” says the CHDC executive director.
The project was but one undertaken by the nonprofit, one of several receiving support from the Polk County Housing Trust Fund in the last year. Typically, the agency’s Home Ownership Program rehabilitates or builds eight to 12 houses annually in several neighborhoods and then sells them to low-income families.
CHDC also operates two other programs inspired by the difficulties many senior homeowners have in maintaining their homes. SeniorWise Home Repair serves more than 1,400 seniors in more than 2,500 services call each year, making both large and small repairs and providing limited chore services related to safety and home maintenance. Senior Rental Housing of CHDC evolved from the realization that no amount of repair could make it possible for some seniors to stay safely in their homes. As a result, that program has developed and/or manages 124 independent-living apartments in three buildings for seniors with very low incomes.
“Clearly our goal is to identify appropriate needs and then try to meet them,” says Bower. “Our programs don’t have a lot of glitz. . . . We just want to improve housing for low-income residents.”
During the past year, CHDC Homeownership through Homeownership program served our community as follows:
9 Households.
14 Adults
11 Children
Family incomes: Households
0 < 30% MFI ($0-$20,450)
5 31-50% MFI (20,451-$34,050)
4 51-80% MFI (34,051-$54,500)
Sources of Income: Households
9 Employment
0 Social Security/Pension
0 Public Assistance
CHDC also has a Seniorwise Major Repair division that served the community as follows:
23 Households.
28 Adults
0 Children
Family incomes: Households
18 < 30% MFI ($0-$20,450)
5 31-50% MFI (20,451-$34,050)
0 51-80% MFI (34,051-$54,500)
Sources of Income: Households
0 Employment
23 Social Security/Pension
0 Public Assistance
CHDC also has a Seniorwise Minor Repair division that served the community as follows:
984 Households
984 Adults
1 Child
Family incomes: Households
< 30% MFI ($0-$20,450) 662 (2 of which were $0 income)
31-50% MFI (20,451-$34,050) 322
51-80% MFI (34,051-$54,500) 0
Sources of Income: Households
2 Employment
1,084 Social Security/Pension
1 Public Assistance
CHDC also has a Senior Housing Rental division that served the community as follows:
140 Households (19 of these new households)
147 Adults (21 of these new)
0 Child
Family incomes: Households
121 < 30% MFI ($0-$20,450)
14 31-50% MFI (20,451-$34,050)
0 51-80% MFI (34,051-$54,500)
Sources of Income: Households
6 Employment
134 Social Security/Pension
3 Public Assistance/Other
Community Housing Development Corporation
601 Forest Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50314
Tel: 515.244.7798
Fax: 515.243.8507
Email:
info@chdcdesmoines.org
www.chdcdesmoines.org