Iowa Finance Authority awards homeless assistance grants to three area agencies

DES MOINES — The Iowa Finance Authority is giving over $500,000 in grants to local agencies to help with homeless assistance programs.

Iowa Finance Authority director Debi Durham says the awards will have a direct impact in helping thousands of Iowans in their time of need. She says Iowa’s homeless service professionals work tirelessly to help get Iowans back on their feet and into permanent housing, and the funding will aid in those efforts.

Among the local programs getting money from the more than $5.7 million in grants approved to 48 agencies statewide:

== The Community Kitchen of North Iowa based in Mason City — $18,189 from the Iowa Shelter Assistance Fund, which provides assistance to help with the costs of operations of homeless and domestic violence shelters, essential services for the homeless and evaluation and reporting services

== Primary Health Care based in Des Moines which covers a 27-county area including Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Kossuth, Winnebago and Worth counties. The $474,108 from the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program is designed to assist persons who have been diagnosed with HIV & AIDS and their families who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. 

== Cedar Valley Hospice based in Waterloo, which covers 12 counties including Butler, Floyd, and Mitchell, will also be getting $66,565 from the Housing Opportunities  for Persons with AIDS program. 

You can see a full list of the awards by clicking here