Iowa City council approves CitySteps 2030 plan after amendment; public speakers urge delay or larger allotment for smaller immigrant-led groups

Iowa City on Tuesday approved CitySteps 2030, the five-year consolidated plan the city must file with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, after the council voted to remove a 15-year minimum “years in existence” requirement for agencies considered for direct (noncompetitive) funding.

The plan, presented by Erica Coopley with Neighborhood Services, lays out needs, priorities and recommended uses of federal entitlement funds including Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME funds, and recommends prioritizing tenant-based rent assistance (TBRA) and down-payment assistance as predictable annual set-asides while directing new construction requests to the county Housing Trust Fund to avoid triggering costly federal construction compliance rules.

CitySteps 2030 is the result of outreach staff and consultants conducted across the city last summer and fall, including in-person public meetings, stakeholder sessions, multilingual flyers and more than 300 public survey responses. Coopley told the council the plan aims to focus the city’s limited federal resources toward the highest-priority needs in housing, supportive services and community development while streamlining federal compliance for smaller projects.

Why the plan matters: HUD requires a consolidated plan for entitlement communities to receive annual CDBG and HOME allocations; the plan sets the policy framework for how those federal funds will be targeted in Iowa City over the next five years. City staff recommended changes that they say will reduce regulatory burdens and preserve limited staff capacity while making predictable investments in rental assistance and homeownership tools.

Public input and complaints: Dozens of residents and nonprofit representatives spoke in the council chamber and online. Several immigrant-led and community organizations — including representatives from Escucha Mi Vos, the Center for Worker Justice, Iowa City Catholic Worker and others — urged the council to delay approval and extend the public comment period, saying the plan’s proposed shift to a small set of direct-funded organizations would channel too much of aid-to-agency funding to larger nonprofits and reduce competitive opportunities for smaller or immigrant-led groups.

Speakers asked for either a 30-day pause to solicit more input or an explicit, guaranteed proportion of aid-to-agency funding preserved for competitive awards. Will Capp, president of the Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County, asked the council for clearer guidance on how much money the competitive fund will actually contain so community organizations could plan. Several speakers said the public comment window, which opened Dec. 20, limited meaningful participation during holiday weeks.

Council response and amendment: Councilors discussed two central concerns raised by public speakers: (1) the “years in existence” threshold that staff used as one criterion for awarding direct (multi-year) funding; and (2) the lack of an explicit, budget-level guarantee of how much of the city’s aid-to-agency pool will remain competitive. Council unanimously voted to remove the 15-year “years in existence” bullet from the staff-recommended criteria (voice vote 5-0), and then approved the consolidated plan as amended (roll call, 5-0). Several councilors asked staff to return promptly with a recommended policy or memorandum describing a proportional split between direct and competitive aid-to-agency funding (council discussion indicated staff will bring a follow-up recommendation to the council and HCDC). City staff said budget allocations remain a separate annual decision and could be set through the regular budget or a council policy memo rather than locked into the HUD plan.

What the plan proposes: Among the plan’s recommendations, staff proposes: - A HOME program emphasis on two annual set-asides: tenant-based rental assistance (TBRA) and down-payment assistance. - Directing developers seeking new construction funding to the county Housing Trust Fund rather than using HOME, because new construction triggers Davis-Bacon, Section 3 and other federal rules that increase administrative burden and cost. - Limiting CDBG competitive funding to public facilities and rental acquisition while continuing an owner-occupied housing rehab program and a proposed rental rehab set-aside for city-owned non-public-rental units. - Continued use of up to 15% of CDBG funds for public services. - A recommendation to simplify the city’s aid-to-agency application and scoring process, including longer funding cycles for stable grantees and a direct-funding pathway for agencies that meet operational, financial and performance criteria.

Staff cautioned that the plan is a policy framework rather than a spending plan: annual action plans that specify projects and dollar amounts must be prepared once HUD releases Iowa City’s FY 2026 allocations, and staff expects to return in May with the first-year action plan once federal allocations are known.

Next steps: Staff said the amended CitySteps 2030 will be submitted to HUD, and staff will prepare the FY 2026 annual action plan when funding numbers are released. Council directed staff to brief HCDC and to return with proposed implementation guidance on the mix of direct versus competitive aid-to-agency allocations; staff said it will present recommendations for a proportional approach in time to inform the FY 2026 budget and grant agreements.

Sources: Presentation and public hearing at the Jan. 21, 2025 Iowa City Council meeting, remarks by Erica Coopley (Neighborhood Services); public comments from representatives of Escucha Mi Vos, Center for Worker Justice, Iowa City Catholic Worker, Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County, Trail of Johnson County and others; council deliberations and roll-call motions.