The U-S Department of Housing and Urban Development’s sending more than half a million dollars to the town of Onawa for some affordable housing. David Lovell, director at Crossroads of Western Iowa, says almost half a million will go for building two apartment houses for mentally disabled clients. Another 125-thousand dollars over six years will help people with disabilities pay for a place to live. Lovell says potential tenants for the new units don’t have to be clients of the Crossroads program.They could be people with a brain injury, retardation, mental illness and be eligible to live in the project. Lovell compares the new project with low-cost housing for low-income elderly. Lovell says the program’s helped disabled clients rent apartments up to now, but has a more permanent base now that it can build its own permanent housing. The building and rental-assistance grants total 603-thousand dollars.
