COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (WOWT) – Local nonprofits are hoping a new grant can help them prevent homelessness, and they’re taking aim at the city’s low rental vacancy rates.

Heartland Family Service was awarded $65,000 through the Iowa Homelessness Prevention Fund to further efforts to decrease homelessness in Council Bluffs.

“Anytime that we can be more preventative, the better, especially when we are talking about really low vacancy rates, and especially when talking about affordable housing. The more that we can keep people in the housing that is currently affordable, the better,” said Mindy Paces, vice president of Housing, Safety and Community Wellbeing at HFS.

The money will go toward helping people avoid eviction, covering things like rent and utilities.

Brandy Wallar, the CEO of New Visions Homeless Services, said this is especially important because of those low rental vacancy rates. Once an area is below a 5% vacancy rate, supply is considered critically low, she said.

“Council Bluffs is at a 1.7%, and why we’re seeing so many people experience street-level homelessness is because they just do not have the options of housing in Council Bluffs. A lot of guys in our shelter right now that are actively looking, that are on fixed income — they just cannot find housing available,” Wallar said. “So our beds aren’t turning over as quickly as they normally would, and so that’s resulting in people being on the streets right now because our shelters are completely full waiting for a housing opportunity to come up.”

She said Omaha is only a bit better at 4%, not making it a great option for people in Council Bluffs.

Brian Stueve, a New Visions resident, said a heart attack and stroke nearly a year ago got him off track with work and rent — and now he’s struggling to find a new place for himself.

“It is very very frustrating, yes. Um, and it’s frustrating to others, not just myself but other people who stay here. And it’s got to be frustrating to case workers, too,” he said.

Wallar said a low credit score or previous eviction can also make it harder for many of the people she works with to find housing.

HFS has found eviction or new ownership can also cause rent to be reassessed.

“What we’re seeing is that when that happens rents are going up, and so again, that hasn’t kept pace with our economy,” Paces said.

Stueve and others like him can’t match those increases or high standards when applying for new housing.

“We need that chance to, to start over, and we need to get back on our feet. Like I said, just open your hearts, and give us a chance,” he said.

Heartland Family Services says they had received an Emergency Rental Assistance grant in 2022 following the pandemic, and saw a positive impact, serving more than 90 households in the area. That aid concluded at the end of September.

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