With no formal fundraising campaign to spur them, a number of prominent Greater Des Moines companies and residents have nonetheless donated more than a half-million dollars to the Polk County Housing Trust Fund in recent months to help lower-income residents at risk of eviction to be able to pay their rent.

The private donations augmented federal money that the city of Des Moines and Polk County received specifically aimed at enabling residents to avoid homelessness. Since February, more than 1,000 Polk County households have avoided evictions due to direct funding provided through the Polk County Housing Trust Fund.

Now, with funding from the second of two tranches of federal emergency housing relief money expected to be depleted by Sept. 1, Polk County and city of Des Moines officials are negotiating with the Reynolds administration and the Iowa Finance Authority for the state to push more federal funding to Polk County and Des Moines to further assist residents, said Eric Burmeister, executive director of the Polk County Housing Trust Fund.

The Polk County Housing Trust Fund received two large portions of federal funding — more than $14.67 million in an initial tranche and more than $11.61 million in a second tranche — sent directly to the city of Des Moines and Polk County from the federal government through two federal COVID relief bills. Polk County and Des Moines were both eligible to apply for and receive the direct funding because both municipalities are over 200,000 in population, Burmeister said. The Emergency Rental Assistance Program is administered by IMPACT Community Action Partnership.

As the comprehensive planning, advocacy and funding organization for affordable housing in Polk County, the Polk County Housing Trust Fund is responsible for allocating state and local funds aimed at increasing and preserving the inventory of affordable homes in Polk County.

Iowa Finance Authority Director Debi Durham this week said some of the $195 million in funding allocated by the federal American Rescue Plan for housing relief for the rest of the state — of which only 2% has been distributed — might be returned to the federal government, as reported Thursday by the Des Moines Register. Durham also told the Register that the state probably won’t apply for a second tranche of $120 million.

Burmeister told the Business Record that the Polk County Housing Trust Fund would like to get some of that funding before it’s returned, and is hopeful that negotiations with the Iowa Finance Authority will accomplish that. He said it is his understanding that Linn County, the only other Iowa municipality meeting the population threshold, is also considering seeking some of the unused state allocation.

“I think there are ways to get the money spent that would seriously help the housing stability of people in Polk County,” he said. Burmeister noted that the federal deadline for spending the second allocation of funding is not until 2025, which gives Des Moines and Polk County plenty of time to use the much-needed funding. “We are encouraging [the state] to apply for at least a portion of the funding from tranche 2.”

The Justice Center Project, an eviction prevention program that the Polk County Housing Trust Fund initiated during the pandemic, was initially funded with a $600,000 grant from Polk County and supplemented with $250,000 from the trust fund. It has subsequently received more than $500,000 in donations from Greater Des Moines businesses and individuals. The combined private and community funding totaled about $1.9 million.

“It’s clear there are people extremely concerned about this issue, and they’re expressing that with their checkbooks,” Burmeister said. “They’re concerned about folks who are possibly losing their homes.” He hopes to hear back from the governor’s office before Sept. 1, the anticipated date that PCHTF will be out of eviction prevention funds.

As of Feb. 19, the Justice Center Project has saved 1,017 households in Polk County from eviction, including 1,042 children and 1,373 adults. The agency halted these evictions by directly paying landlords the back rent that was owed. To date, the Housing Trust Fund has spent more than $1,897,000 keeping families housed.   

Among the companies that have contributed to the Polk County Housing Trust Fund specifically to fight homelessness are Nationwide, Principal Financial Group, F&G, United Way of Central Iowa and the Disaster Recovery Fund, which assisted in raising substantial funds from the corporate community, the affordable housing agency said on its website. More data, including a list of corporate and individual donors, can be found on the Housing Trust Fund’s Eviction Prevention page.  

Among the largest contributors has been the Nationwide Foundation, which gave $100,000 to the Justice Center Project and $60,000 to the PCHTF’s Stable Steady Strong campaign to fund supportive services such as financial literacy programs, homeownership counseling and case management.

“Very early in the Stable Steady Strong campaign, the Nationwide Foundation stepped up with a financial commitment to support our work around helping get families housed and keep them housed,” said Mollie Giller, director of programs and supportive programs for the Polk County Housing Trust Fund. “Their timing and generosity are most noteworthy as COVID-19 has intensified the critical need for many of our neighbors throughout Greater Des Moines.”