Ames Today

The City of Ames is eligible for HOME ARP funding as part of the American Rescue Plan, and the Ames City Council discussed how it should move forward with its funding and planning at a recent meeting.

During the meeting, the council learned that the funds are used to reduce the rate of homelessness in the community as well as cutting the risk of homelessness by targeting at-risk individuals, including veterans and their families and people trying to get out of an abusive situation or fleeing sex trafficking. Amid these details, Vanessa Baker-Latimer, the City’s housing coordinator, discussed potential projects for the funding.

“So after reviewing all the data in our current 2019 to 23 consolidated plan, we looked at our most current projects that we've been doing since 2021 through today, and feedback from the asset team, staff believes that HOME ARP should be used to address the following: for the qualifying populations homeless individuals and families, individuals and families at risk of homelessness, and then persons fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking,” she said in the meeting.

Baker-Latimer also told the council that her staff believes the top focus should be to develop a non-congregate shelter.

“Staff feels like the number one eligible activity should be that of a non-congregate shelter, both for homeless individuals and families and also those fleeing violence because they need to be separated out and they couldn't all be in the same congregate shelter,” she said. “So that's why there's two particular congregate shelters.”

Baker-Latimer further said the reason for that is based on the department's goals for meeting the needs of the homeless, and she noted that the department is using its home allocation to develop low-income affordable rental options at the Baker subdivision.

“And then in the near future, when we get our next round of home funds, council can decide to direct us to use that to create a tenant-based rental assistance program for needy families at the very-low-income level,” she said.

During the meeting, the council noted that the City’s plans for the funds have to be submitted by March 31, a deadline officials only learned about in November. Any funds obtained must be used by Sept. 30, 2030, and public hearings and open houses to gauge public opinion and need are required.

One public hearing was held on Jan. 9 at the library and two were held on Jan. 12, while local organizations have been contacted to increase awareness about the effort and develop relationships going forward. This included an online survey for stakeholders and the public, which indicated that most people responding wanted to see the money used for shelters, affordable housing and supportive services, including job training and mental health.

The council approved a plan for two congregate shelters in the city, one focused on homelessness and the other on those fleeing various situations of violence. It was noted that the City has other low-income housing projects, and the one-time capital expense project would be in line with HOME grant requirements instead of using funding that would eventually dry up.