(Radio Iowa) – A count performed earlier this year in 96 Iowa counties found 308 homeless people, a slight uptick compared to last year. The Iowa Balance of State Continuum of Care connects people to resources and funds statewide programs. The group’s director Courtney Guntly says homelessness in rural areas can be very different than in urban areas, as it can be harder to find people and direct them to resources because there’s less population density and fewer service providers.  “That makes it challenging when we really want to serve people where they are and where they may want to get rehoused, because they have those same family or friends or there’s other the community surrounding them,” Guntly says. “So if people have the community and want to stay in their rural community, that we want to make sure we respect that.”

Guntly says the group recently received five-million dollars in grants for three years to address homelessness in Iowa’s rural communities. The count excludes Polk, Pottawattamie and Woodbury counties. A separate survey was done in January in Polk County alone that found 644 homeless people, an upturn of six-percent from last year. Angie Arthur is the executive director of Homeward, a regional planning organization focusing on homelessness. Among those counted, Arthur says there was a significant increase in people who reported they were fleeing domestic violence.

“From a larger perspective, a lot of the funding that we see within our state focuses on correctional aspects,” Arthur says, “as opposed to prevention of domestic violence and supporting the victims and the choices that they make for how they want to flee or address domestic violence within their life.”  The Polk County survey showed a decrease in youth and veteran homelessness, which Arthur attributes to the success of special programs targeting those groups.

(Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)