Iowa House votes to investigate the Iowa Housing Corporation

Agency directors who are supposed to help build low-income housing in Iowa could face criminal charges AND be forced to repay MILLIONS of dollars if Iowa House members get their way. The Iowa Housing Corporation was created by the legislature a decade ago, and given eight MILLION of your state tax dollars as seed money to finance low-income housing. Now, members of the House are upset by outlandish executive salaries and potential insider dealing. The House yesterday passed a bill to launch a criminal investigation and force re-payment of the start-up money. Representative Bill Dotzler of Waterloo is a leading critic of the agency.Dotzler says the Corporation spends too much on salaries, and not enough on building low-income housing.Representative Mike Cormack of Fort Dodge says Housing Corporation executives have refused to fully disclose their actions.Key Senators, however, have blocked some previous attempts to crack-down on the Housing Corporation. Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson said he “can’t say” whether the bill will ever be considered in the Senate.