While only those who are legal residents of the Iowa City Housing Authority’s jurisdiction are able to receive housing assistance, that doesn’t stop out-of-state residents from applying to the program.
At 53, Rose LaGrange is living her dream. She became a first-time homeowner in November 2009 with the help of a program administered by the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County, an organization that supports affordable housing by funding affordable home ownership, rental and transitional housing.
Of 15 recommendations made to the Iowa City Council by a housing task force convened in 2005 the only one adopted by the city was to implement the use of a fair share matrix when determining where new affordable and assisted housing should be located.
For more than a decade, Iowa City has grappled with a chronic social problem – how to provide adequate and affordable housing for people who don’t earn enough to pay for a place to live. The dilemma seems to have stumped and perhaps frustrated everyone involved - city officials, housing providers, t
The separation between Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and surrounding communities has been a hot topic for politicians and development officials for years. They have cooperated in some ways, like integrating the term “corridor” into the lexicon. But a divisive mindset still exists, as shown by the competit
The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, publisher of the online news organization, IowaWatch.org, received a $4,400 grant Friday from the Community Foundation of Johnson County. The Iowa Center was one of 46 local, non-profit organizations receiving checks totaling more than $100,000 during t
Students living at home represent a growing trend in American college life. In 2008, they made up 31.5 percent of all U.S. undergraduates, U.S. Department of Education reports. The number of college students planning to live at home or considering it increased from slightly less than a majority in 2
Terminally ill adults can make advance directives from their doctors forbidding medical interventions outside the hospital, but a little-known Iowa law does not allow the same power to similarly situated minors and their parents.
Two years ago the Utah legislature authorized use of do-not-resuscitate orders for terminally ill children after discharge from the hospital. The new directives operate on the same model as those for adults, with the additional requirement that two doctors sign for them instead of one. Despite that
NORTH LIBERTY – Lou Licht was once a polluter – aiding and abetting companies that spewed toxins into the air and water. Today he could hardly be greener. With a quick-growing, toxic-zapping tree and a patented technique, Licht cleans up the types of messes he once helped create. His professional an
The Public Interest Research Group, PIRG, is gathering signatures for a petition to protect children from dangerous toys that may lurk in the colorful gift-wrappings this holiday season.
The state of Iowa is failing to warn people to cut back on eating locally caught fish contaminated with mercury and other pollutants at levels the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finds too risky, an IowaWatch study has found. More than 330,000 people a year buy licenses to fish Iowa’s waters, a
