Hunter
04/27/26
Citing losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past five years, the Iowa City Housing Authority plans to create a nonprofit to switch from a public housing program to a Section 8 plan.
The Daily Iowan reports Tracy Hightshoe, the neighborhood and development services director for the Iowa City government, said public housing has been chronically underfunded for several years, with the city suffering a net loss of about $245,000 a year for the last five years alone.
She said by starting a nonprofit, the Housing Authority will be able to reposition and join federal Section 8 housing plans.
According to the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program, Section 8 is a more reliable funding platform compared to funding received by local public housing authorities.
Before they can enact the change, the city needs to establish a non-profit, which they are in the process of doing. Hightshoe says the change will increase the authority’s annual income by roughly a half million dollars.