SIRHA receives message from Ernst for its 40th anniversary

In recognition of its 40th anniversary, Southern Iowa Regional Housing Authority (SIRHA) received a message from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Jerry Self, an Ernst representative, during its regular meeting Wednesday at the Supertel Inn & Conference Center in Creston.

Ernst discussed the importance of SIRHA, which seeks to provide safe and affordable housing for Iowans, while Self compared Iowa and national housing statistics using data from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Cathy Seddon, SIRHA executive director, began the meeting by recognizing SIRHA members for their years of service.

Seddon, herself, has been with SIRHA since its inception: 40 years. At the meeting, she received a recognition plaque from the SIRHA board for her service.

“As you know, there’s a lot of planning and hard work that goes into 40 years of service of housing thousands and thousands of people as we have done over the years,” Seddon said. “I can’t even begin to name or thank everyone who has put their time and effort in.”

The board then video-streamed a message from Ernst, who wasn’t able to attend because she was in session.

“It is my pleasure to take part in congratulating and thanking the Southern Iowa Regional Housing Authority for its 40 years of service to the people of Iowa,” Ernst said. “One of the most basic human needs is access to physical protection ... and I am very proud of my fellow Iowans who work to provide safe, affordable housing to those in need.”

Guest speaker Self, who is Ernst’s regional director for northwest Iowa, thanked SIRHA members for their work and shared 2016 housing data from HUD and National Low Income Housing Coalition.

“Twenty-eight percent of Iowa households are renters, and that’s kind of shocking to me ... 26 percent of that are extremely low income,” Self said. “So, when you see housing authorities like this one doing great work every day, it really makes you feel good that we have people out there working every day to make a difference, and it really goes unnoticed.”

According to the report for Iowa, $20,630 is the maximum state-level income for an extremely low income household, and $13.46 is the state housing wage – the hourly amount a household must earn to afford a two-bedroom rental unit at HUD’s Fair Market Rent level.

Further, in Iowa, there is a shortage of 54,739 units that are affordable and available for extremely low income renters.

At the national level, Self shared some of the housing data Congress is examining as the next budget year approaches.

“Housing and residential mortgage markets in the United States are continuing to recover from several years of turmoil that began in the 2007-08 time frame,” Self said. “Nationally, home prices have been consistently increasing since ‘12. Negative equity and mortgage foreclosure rates have been steadily decreasing. Home sales have begun to increase with sales of existing homes approaching levels that were common in the early 2000s.”

For renters, Self said rent has continued to increase as more households become renters. And, though the supply of rental housing has also increased, it has generally not kept pace with the increasing demand.

“Rising rent has contributed to housing affordability problems, which are especially pronounced for low-income renters,” Self said. “So, the 114th Congress has been thinking about a few issues ... and has considered several housing-related tax provisions as part of the broader tax extender bill. The president, under his proposed ‘17 budget, has made some substantial increases in HUD’s funding, specifically for affordable housing for low-income families. So, we’ll see where that ends up, but hopefully there won’t be any decreases from FY ‘16.”