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For New Visions Homeless Services, the timing of a grant from the Pottawattamie County Housing Trust Fund for electrical upgrades and the purchase of 26 stoves could not be better.

“It’s coming at a good time, not knowing if federal government support for permanent supportive housing is going away,” said Brandy Wallar, New Visions Homeless Services CEO. “ If we need to be eligible to accept Section 8 housing vouchers, we will need to have stoves in the apartments.”

The stoves will allow the men living inside the apartments at Timothy House to be more independent too.

“We have to have client choice, to be able to cook their own food if they choose,” said Wallar.

New Visions Homeless Services is one of eight organizations that will receive grant funding from the trust fund’s 2025 application cycle. The trust fund awarded grants totaling $418,221 for the following organizations and projects:

Owner-occupied home rehab, repairs, and accessibility improvements: $100,000
● Connections Area Agency on Aging
● Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs

Construction of owner-occupied housing units: $80,471
● Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs
● NeighborhoodWorks Home Solutions

Rehab of rental housing units, emergency shelters, or transitional units: $212,750
● MICAH House
● Municipal Housing Agency
● New Visions Homeless Services
● Peace Haven Retirement Home

Eviction aversion services: $25,000
● Iowa Legal Aid

Each year the Pottawattamie County Housing Trust Fund (website: pottcohtf.org) allocates funding to organizations or individuals that serve the housing needs of low to moderate-income residents within Pottawattamie County, Iowa.

MAPA is the grant administrator for the Pottawattamie County Housing Trust Fund and provides staff services including annual housing assistance plans and grant applications, project and fiscal management and compliance with Iowa Finance Authority requirements.