Updated: Apr 6, 2023
HOME, Inc. was founded in 1967 through the efforts of residents concerned about the lack of decent affordable housing. It is the oldest private, non-profit housing organization in Des Moines.
The organization’s goal is to meet individuals and families where they are in their housing journey, and HOME, Inc. does this by developing affordable housing that revitalizes neighborhoods, counseling individuals and families to help them obtain and retain housing and providing education and support to tenants and landlords to improve rental relationships.
HOME, Inc. offers a tenant-landlord counseling service that can help with common rental housing issues. The service assisted 2,650 families last. year including with questions about where to find affordable housing, seek rental assistance, or avoid eviction.
The organization also provides homeownership readiness counseling and pre-purchase counseling that helps families prepare to purchase their first home, as well as address issues that arise after becoming homeowners.
Finally, HOME, Inc. also constructs homes that are then made available to low- and moderate-income families in the community.
HOME, Inc.’s multifaceted approach to helping the community with housing challenges ensures they can meet their clients and residents wherever they are on their housing journey and provide support that creates a stronger community over time.
You can learn more about HOME, Inc. at www.HOMEINCdsm.com
This week, the Polk County Housing Trust Fund is sharing stories about some of our provider partners working to ensure housing opportunity for all. Make sure you sign up for e-mail updates to stay in touch when we share more stories like these.
Updated: Apr 6, 2023
Neighborhood Finance Corporation has been lending in Des Moines since 1991. NFC provides unique lending programs and related services to help revitalize designated neighborhoods in Polk County and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. NFC has served 8,000 households in Des Moines making over $400 million in investments.
NFC’s lending helps people purchase homes, refinance existing mortgages, and secure home improvement renovation loans. They do this in partnership with Polk County and the cities of Des Moines, West Des Moines, Windsor Heights and Urbandale along with capital for lending raised from local financial institutions.
The lending areas where NFC operates were created in response to the impact of redlining and historic and discriminatory restrictions on access to capital. Those disparities are still quite apparent today as large racial and ethnic homeownership gaps exist in our community. While still providing lending to the community at large, NFC has been developing specific strategies to close these longstanding gaps.
In 2017, NFC was awarded funds that allowed the organization to offer down payment assistance and found that offering this benefit increased its lending to communities of color by 35%.
NFC has built on that progress by offering its Journey to Homeownership program which in its first year has nearly doubled the percentage of its loans to Black and African American homebuyers.
This year, NFC has just announced a new down payment assistance program that can provide up to a $30,000 deferred loan to eligible homebuyers purchasing in Polk County with an approved lender. This program will further expand the organization’s ability to help more people and families realize their dream of owning a home. Learn more about Neighborhood Finance Corporation at www.neighborhoodfinance.org.
This week, the Polk County Housing Trust Fund is sharing stories about some of our provider partners working to ensure housing opportunity for all. Make sure you sign up for e-mail updates to stay in touch when we share more stories like these.
Updated: May 8, 2023
Oakridge Neighborhood provides affordable, quality housing coupled with supportive service programs for residents and others in the community.
Located in the heart of the city just north of Methodist Hospital, the community is home to 1,000 residents, 72% of whom are immigrants and refugees. In total the Oakridge Neighborhood brings together people from 22 countries speaking 21 languages in Des Moines’ urban core.
Oakridge is unique in its ability to provide for the needs of low-income and refugee families through government-assisted permanent housing in conjunction with human services, making it an integral part of the Greater Des Moines housing and human services continuum.
Oakridge has been called a jewel in the heart of the community in part because of its wrap-around supportive services that help residents build community and thrive.
Many of those services focus on kids as shown in this video:
At Oakridge, people are engaged in programs from morning to night. On any given day at the 17-acre campus, you will find kids attending preschool, people participating in workforce programs to boost their household wealth, families receiving needed medical care, and a thriving, close knit community.
Through these services, Oakridge is helping some of Greater Des Moines’ most vulnerable people succeed and thrive.
Learn more about Oakridge Neighborhood at www.oakridgeneighborhood.org.
This week, the Polk County Housing Trust Fund is sharing stories about some of our provider partners working to ensure housing opportunity for all. Make sure you sign up for e-mail updates to stay in touch when we share more stories like these.