Housing Policy Reading Room
A curated archive of housing research, policy reports, and data sources referenced by the Polk County Housing Trust Fund in our work and public presentations
Featured resources
Additional resources
Economic Realities of Communities of Color in Iowa: A Statewide Report
Iowa Credit Union Foundation, 2023
The Iowa Credit Union Foundation commissioned this report to proivide financial institutions and community organizations with actionable data about people experiencing financial vulnerability in Iowa.
Homeless System Needs Assessment and Centralized Intake Evaluation
Des Moines/Polk County Continuum of Care, 2024
This comprehensive analysis of Polk County's homelessness response system made recommendations for how to add needed hosuing and supports to match the capacity of the system to the community's need.
MIT Living Wage Calculator
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT uses data about typical household expenses in an area to calculate a living wage - the amount of money a person needs to earn to fully support his or herself and their family. Calculations are available for counties, metro areas, or states. You are able to see a variety of houeshold configurations, such as how the situation changes for a single adult living alone, versus a single parent or dual-income earning household.
The Tomorrow Plan
Des Moines Area MPO
The Tomorrow Plan is "the plan that started it all" for a generation of planning and urban design-focused community members in Greater Des Moines. The plan took a sustainability focused approach to envisioning how the region will change as its population nears one million people.
Emergency Housing Voucher Data Dashboard
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Use this dashboard to view data about Emergency Housing Vouchers from public housing authorities across the country including in Iowa. This is a pandemic era program that is ending, so eventually we will remove this data source from this list.
Unsheltered Des Moines Study
Talbert, Elizabeth and Matthew Record, 2022
The Unsheltered Des Moines Study was commissioned to better understand the experiences of people living unsheltered (on the streets or in places not intended for human habitation) in Polk County and includes direct feedback from real people living unsheltered.