January 2013 eNewsletter

Contact Us

108 3rd Street

Ste. 350

Des Moines, IA 50309

Phone: (515) 282-3233

Fax: (515) 282-8444

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The Housing Trust Fund is the comprehensive planning, advocacy and funding organization for Polk County, Iowa

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Find previous issues of our eNewsletter in the eArchive.

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2013 Bus Tour Dates Announced

Save the Dates

April 19, 2013

July 19, 2013

October 18, 2013

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Issue: January 2013

Polk County Housing Trust Fund Board of Directors is on the List

Business Record readers select The Housing Trust Fund Board as the 8th most influential.

At a celebration on January 8th the Business Record released its annual Book of Lists. For the first time, Business Record readers selected the 25 Boards of the Directors they deemed most influential. The PCHTF is at number 8. Congratulations to the Board for their dedication to providing safe, stable and affordable housing in Polk County. For the complete 2013 Book of Lists CLICK HERE

Other News

Before & After

Now you know the rest of the story...

Last September we introduced you to a Before/After Des Moines foreclosed property that stuck out like a sore thumb after wonderful neighborhood improvements were made on each side of it by Habitat for Humanity and Anawim near 23rd and Forest. As you'll recall, HOME, Inc. purchased the property, removed the dilapidated house and went to work building a new home on the lot - which was just completed last month. Now the exciting part, announcing that a family of nine earned the opportunity to buy it and will be moving in this month.

Eric Burmeister shares Insights

Leap of Reason - Mario Morino

At a NeighborWorks America symposium last month, I had the privilege of hearing Mario Morino, author of Leap of Reason: Managing to Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity. Morino's title says it all; it is possible to achieve better results with less money. For an industry that believes one more dollar will yield one more dollar's worth of results that IS truly a "leap of reason."

The Outlook for Affordable Housing in the 2013 Iowa Legislature

Tom Cope helps the Housing Trust Fund Board understand the work ahead

On January 4th Tom Cope, lobbyist for the Local Housing Trust Fund Network spoke to the PCHTF Board about funding challenges and opportunities in the upcoming legislative session. The 2012 elections did little to change the legislative dynamic of the past 2 years. With Governor Branstad in the middle of his term, Cope foresees more of the same.

Josh Swinnie - Former PCHTF Intern

Community Engagement Administrator

Some of the best lessons in life come outside the classroom and in my case, inside my childhood neighborhood. During my internship with the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, Executive Director Eric Burmeister encouraged me to be passionate about helping people and in turn good things would happen in my life. One wonderful coincidence was that part of my internship would be helping low-income residents in the neighborhood I grew up in.

Wells Fargo has the Floor - Russ Cross shares Insights

PCHTF Funders share reasons for their support

Funny how something simple can trigger a connection that provides a new way of seeing things. I was reading last month's Housing Trust Fund eNewsletter and saw the United Way article and thought - "The Polk County Housing Trust Fund is the United Way of Housing."

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Supported by United Way of Central Iowa