Story County supervisors met July 7 for a housing work session that reviewed the county’s housing planning history and recent steps to implement its Housing Action Plan.

Leanne Harter, Story County planning and development director, summarized more than three decades of county housing work and said county policy shifted in the 2010s to treat housing as part of economic development. “It was acknowledging the role is of the board as necessary and then also acknowledging that housing is a component of economic development,” Harter said.

The county described the sequence that led to current implementation work: a county development plan adopted in 1993; an Ames–Story County housing needs assessment in 1998 and a resulting 28E partnership; the C2C comprehensive plan adopted in 2016 with housing goals; formation of the Story County Housing Trust in 2017; a RDG housing study completed and approved in 2021; and a Housing Action Plan adopted in 2022. County staff said in April 2023 the county entered a contract with Mid-Iowa Planning Alliance (MIPA) using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for implementation work. The board also recently approved a memorandum of understanding with the Story County Housing Trust to implement a county weatherization program, with MIPA staff to administer it.

County staff and partners told supervisors the implementation work is intended to convert planning goals into on-the-ground projects and programs, including updating the housing needs assessment and working with community partners and developers to deliver housing. Lucas Young, of Mid-Iowa Planning Alliance, said implementation work is focused on adding units: “More units will help the affordability side. And if you guys can support that side of things by adding more units, that is highly beneficial,” Young said.

Staff did not provide an ARPA dollar total tied specifically to every project during the work session. The county said it will propose an amendment to the existing MIPA implementation agreement to update housing needs assessments for most communities at no additional ARPA cost; staff said they expect to bring that amendment to the board later in July. The memorandum of understanding for the weatherization program was described as already approved by the board; staff identified MIPA and the Story County Housing Trust as implementers.

The meeting concluded with staff agreeing to three near-term tasks: re-survey regional developers about barriers and incentives, start discussions with bond counsel about permitted uses of tax increment financing for housing, and pursue updated housing needs assessments for jurisdictions that have not recently updated them. Staff said they will schedule another work session for the board after consulting bond counsel and assembling updated developer and needs-assessment information.

Details on contract terms, ARPA allocations per project and the weatherization program’s budget and timeline were not specified at the meeting and will be returned to the board for future action.