Iowa City council directs one-time relocation payments for Orchard Court tenants, staff to issue checks before July 1

Iowa City Council members indicated unanimous support in a work-session discussion on June 2 for one-time relocation payments to residents of Orchard Court facing imminent displacement.

The action followed public comments from tenants and council discussion of a staff memo. A resident who identified herself as Zoe told the council she and other tenants had received notice and were concerned they would not qualify for landlord buyouts because many had already terminated leases: “we are 48 ish days away from the termination of our lease,” she said, describing moving and storage costs that she estimated would make the move unaffordable without help. Grant Mannering, another tenant, said some residents had not received earlier notice and that others only learned today that they must vacate, underlining the immediate need for assistance.

City staff summarized the memo’s baseline recommendation of $500 per occupant (37 occupants, $18,500 total) and explained the city’s payment would not be contingent on whether tenants had already terminated leases. Council members raised that $500 might not cover the real costs residents described and debated whether to wait for lease and landlord documentation or provide funds immediately.

After staff and councilors reviewed the affordable housing emergency set-aside and recent expenditures, councilors gave staff direction to prepare a one-time payment of $962 per identified occupant (37 occupants) within the current budget; staff said the goal is to cut checks before July 1 so residents can access funds before the fiscal-year reset. Staff also said the payment pool is limited to the 37 occupants identified by the property buyer/owner records and that staff will use those lists to verify eligibility before distribution.

Jeff (city staff) told council members: “Our hope is to do that as soon as feasible,” and staff committed to establishing a process for residents to pick up checks at City Hall.

The council previously moved to defer the consent agenda item on the occupant transition plan for separate consideration and accepted correspondence related to item six; those procedural steps allowed a fuller work-session discussion on the one-time payments. Councilors and staff also discussed asking the developer or current landlord to honor promised buyouts, but staff cautioned any such request would be nonbinding.

Next steps: staff will finalize eligibility checks and administrative steps to issue one-time payments of $962 to the 37 identified occupants and expects to have checks ready before July 1. The council did not adopt a new ordinance for this distribution; it directed staff to use the affordable housing fund emergency allocation for the payments.