PCHTF Presents Housing Tomorrow!
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After a yearlong planning process, the Polk County Housing Trust Fund is excited to release Housing Tomorrow, Central Iowa's first-ever regional plan for affordable housing. Housing Tomorrow is the product of extensive outreach that captured the opinions of over one thousand Greater Des Moines residents and the hard work of our volunteer steering committee.
Like its namesake The Tomorrow Plan, it offers best practices from communities nationwide that have successfully addressed housing issues. Housing Tomorrow focuses on making policy changes that will make housing more affordable to the next generation of Central Iowans.
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Our Biggest Affordable Housing Week Yet
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The release of Housing Tomorrow was only one of PCHTF's exciting events during our annual Affordable Housing Week. For the first time, we invited national speakers to share their thoughts on the importance of housing as part of our Housing Matters symposium. We also put a new spin on our existing events: our annual bus tour became our first-ever community walking tour. And our Can I Be Your Neighbor Design Challenge was bigger than ever, with 40 students participating from five area high schools.
Thank you to everyone who attended one or several of our events! We had a great week and we hope you did too. If you couldn't make it, take a look at the photos and articles below to see what happened.
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Housing Matters Symposium National speakers draw crowds to talk about housing
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We had a great turnout for our first-ever Housing Matters symposium on April 16! Speakers Michelle Winters from the Urban Land Institute Terwilliger Center for Housing, Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba from Children's HealthWatch, and a panel of local experts discussed how housing relates to education, health, economic development, and other important factors in our region's high quality of life. Click below to see pictures!
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Affordable Housing Walking Tour Exploring downtown housing options on foot
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For our tenth community affordable housing tour, we decided to get off the bus and see affordable homes on foot. Along with our partners at Capital Crossroads, we highlighted affordable housing options in Downtown Des Moines. We couldn't have asked for better weather, or better company! Click below to see photos.
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Design Challenge Winner Has the Floor Discussion with 18-year-old Nick Turner from Ankeny Centennial High School
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As a child, this year's Can I Be Your Neighbor Design Challenge winner, Nick Turner, wanted to be a weatherman. That changed in 8th grade after a science class weather unit left him feeling it was "too conceptual" rather than what he likes, things that are black and white. His freshman year he discovered a better fit through a class called Introduction to Engineering and Design. Fast forward a couple of years and he is now heading off for college with a $2,000 scholarship from the Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines thanks to winning the design competition that wrapped up Affordable Housing Week. We followed up with Nick for this column.
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Art & More for Shelter 6th annual Hawthorn Hill fundraiser a success
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On April 16, Hawthorn Hill held its 6th annual Art & More for shelter event. The event is a fundraiser for Hawthorn Hill's two programs that serve homeless families with children: The Home Connection and New Directions Shelter. Also at the event, the Polk County Housing Trust Fund was awarded Hawthorn Hill's 2015 Corporate/Foundation Partner Award. Read more and see photos at the link below!
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CRE Trends & Issues Forum Panelists: housing, regionalism key to success
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For the second year, we teamed up with the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization to sponsor the Business Record's Commercial Real Estate Trends & Issues Forum on April 22. Housing Tomorrow Steering Committee member and Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity Director of Development & Marketing Jenna Ekstrom welcomed the crowd and helped spark discussion of housing issues throughout the morning. Panelists Rick Tollakson, Mark Rupprecht, Gerry Neugent, and Justin Doyle stressed the importance of acting regionally, and of providing new housing options to meet the needs of our growing population. It was a great discussion and we were glad to be a part of it. To see photos from the event, click below!
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