Good Neighbor says ARPA funding for county housing navigator will run out next October

Bill Stodden, executive director of Good Neighbor, told the Story County Board of Supervisors on July 29 that ARPA funding that covers the nonprofit’s housing navigator position will be exhausted by about October 2026 unless the agency secures other sources of support. The navigator primarily helps residents apply for rent and utility assistance and performs landlord and utility outreach to prevent evictions and shutoffs.

Stodden described the navigator as handling roughly 400 client contacts per month and said most of Good Neighbor’s assistance—about 85%—goes to rent and utility support. He presented year-to-year figures showing large demand: in 2023–24, requests for rent and utility aid were about $1.04 million and Good Neighbor funded roughly $361,364; in 2024–25 requests fell to about $894,000 and the agency funded about $344,000. Stodden said those figures come from the organization’s quarterly ARPA submissions and other grants and donations.

Why it matters: the navigator’s work is intended to keep households housed rather than paying the greater cost of displacement and rehousing. Stodden emphasized that many families the program serves are partially employed—he estimated about 60–65% of clients are employed—yet still need assistance because wages are not keeping pace with rent increases. He said the agency’s client demographic skews toward minority households, women, and foreign-born residents and that stabilization services are often paired with referrals to SNAP and other benefits.

Board members asked whether the agency is pursuing other funding. Stodden said Good Neighbor had an unusually strong year of private donations that allowed it to place some funds in short-term CDs; together with other revenue sources the agency could cover the navigator position for another 12–24 months if similar donations continue. He also said Good Neighbor had previously received a supplemental grant from the judicial branch but was told that funding was not sustainable because the judicial program’s original scope changed.

Stodden identified neighborhoods that generate many assistance requests and said a 2017 affordability study helped illustrate local rent‑to‑income disparities; he said landlords raised rents after that study’s publication and that the largest volume of clients comes from specific neighborhoods including parts of Campustown, South Fifth Street and East Seventh Street. He offered to provide the board a copy of the study and demographic reports by the end of the day.

The board did not take formal action on the presentation but asked for the supporting documents Stodden offered.