Western Iowa residents forced out of their homes by Missouri River flooding may have another option for temporary housing. Iowa Finance Authority spokeswoman, Ashley Jared, says flood victims can apply for a waiver to live in housing usually restricted by the federal government to low-income families.
“They don’t have to worry about their income to seek some housing assistance in those properties. We just ask that they go to our website and fill out a form and kind of search to see if there’s a vacancy at an affordable housing property. We have all of the contact information at iowafinanceauthority.gov for them,” Jared says.
The waiver applies to flood victims in Monona, Harrison, Pottawattamie, Mills, and Fremont counties. “They just have to verify that they did indeed live in one of those five counties in Iowa during the period of May 25th to August first 2011, and that their property was indeed damaged or destroyed by the flooding. And we will go ahead and see what we can do to get them in to an affordable rental project,” Jared says.
The Finance Authority says over 1,200 Iowans have filed for assistance from FEMA following last year’s flooding.