Grants for building special needs or homeless vets housing Iowa

[Andrew D.]

In a recent deal in Cedar Rapids I acquired a large vacant lot along with the parcel the house sets on.  The lot has frontage and 2 separate streets and was able to confirm with the zoning department that I could split this into 2 separate lots and still be able to meet mandatory setbacks.  This was unplanned as it was an estate and I had no idea until several months after closing that I had also purchased the large adjoining lot.  This was a great bonus but now I am trying to figure out the most productive use of this lot.  

I have thought about just splitting the lot and trying to sell the lots off or possibly building spec homes to try and sell.  I'm somewhat against both of these ideas because its and established neighborhood of $115-$135k houses and I'm not sure I'd be able to make much of a profit on these.

My last idea would be to try and find some sort of grant to build long term housing to build 2 houses that meet the specific needs of either individuals with special needs or perhaps disabled or homeless vets?  I know that in the past I have seen grants available for low income housing but I'm not sure if there is anything available for what I am interested in doing?

[Patti Robertson]

We work with VASH and will continue to do so, but I have to tell you they are our most difficult, and most heart breaking tenants.  They are not for the faint of heart landlord.  We've had to evict two, which was not a decision we took lightly, because they lose their voucher if evicted.  The first one only paid $10 of his rent, which he never paid.  $10 wasn't worth evicting him over, so we let it slide until we figured he was selling drugs and/or sex out of his apartment.  The activity level going in and out was unreal.  One day when he was in the hospital he called and said he though someone had broken into his apartment.  He asked us to call the police and do an inspection. With the cop we found drug parafanalia and a vibrating ****** in a box (I didn't even know such a thing existed) sitting on the coffee table and a TV with the series number scraped off in an empty bedroom. There was no sign of break-in.

The second was already in a building we took over managing for an owner who was also a disabled Vet.  The owner had a soft spot for the disabled Vet tenant, and asked us to try to work with him. No one in the building could get along with him, and we one by one, replaced every single tenant.  Then we started getting complaint calls from both the new tenants and the single family home neighbors on each side of the 4 plex. Our Disabled Vet, I think, was paranoid, and he constantly harassed and threatened his neighbors. One by one they all got restraining orders on him. The cops were called so much they were citing him for being a nuisance.  He was thrown in and out of jail because of these offenses. He was also an alcoholic who obviously refused to take his meds.  Eventually he was in jail for a three month span during which time he failed to pay his portion of the rent and we were forced to evict him.

In both cases we were in constant contact with both the SEC 8 caseworker and the VASH caseworker.  The situations are just as heartbreaking for them, and we all did everything within out power to try to avoid the final outcome.  I'm not sharing these stories to discourage anyone from working with the VASH program.  We have had a few situations that have worked out well.  I'm just warning you that if you are at all wishy washy about being able to make decisions with your head instead of your heart, the VASH program may not be something you want to explore.