(Atlantic, Iowa) – Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) recently completed 3 owner-occupied housing rehabilitation Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) projects in Dexter, Fontanelle, and Leon. These grants addressed updates to HVAC, electrical, plumbing, windows, doors, siding, roofing, handicap accessibility, and lead based paint, bringing the homes up to Iowa’s minimum housing standards. The grants assisted 14 low to moderate income households, with a total of $530,837 spent in grant funded repairs.

Unusually, these projects are outside the normal SWIPCO service area of the counties of Harrison, Shelby, Pottawattamie, Cass, Mills, Montgomery, Fremont, and Page. But, in this case SWIPCO had previously contracted with Southern Iowa Council of Governments (SICOG), based in Creston, to provide the inspections portion of their housing CDBG repair projects while SICOG continued to provide overall project administration. In February 2022 due to SICOG being unable to administer CDBG projects due to staffing issues, SWIPCO contracted with the cities to provide administration services for the CDBG rehab projects in nine communities that were currently underway. The three communities of Dexter, Fontanelle, and Leon were the first of these projects to be completed and the remaining are well on their way to completion.

“It is important for us to stand beside our fellow COGs and assist where we can,” said John McCurdy, Executive Director at SWIPCO. “The value of what these grants bring to communities is that they not only help the individual homeowners by improving the safety and energy efficiency of their homes, but they also help improve the value of all the homes in the community over time.”

CDBG is a program funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development managed in Iowa by the Iowa Economic Development Authority. SWIPCO is a council of governments serving the eight counties of southwest Iowa with public transportation, community development, and housing. SWIPCO is an equal opportunity employer, provider, and lender. To learn more about what current programs are available, visit www.swipco.org or call 712-243-4196.