Iowa Legal Aid was recently selected by the Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) as a winner of its second annual Innovation in Homelessness Pitch Competition, announced at the HousingIowa Conference in Cedar Rapids. Through this award, Iowa Legal Aid received a grant to launch a pilot project that tackles housing instability at its roots.
Our project—Embedding Expungement and Collateral Consequences Relief in Eviction Help Desks—brings critical legal services directly to people at the moment they are most at risk of losing their housing. When families come to an eviction help desk, we won’t just address the immediate housing crisis. We’ll also help remove the hidden barriers that too often stand in the way of long-term stability: criminal and juvenile records that block rental applications, suspended driver’s licenses that threaten employment, and court debt that keeps people trapped in a cycle of instability.
“Too often, people are denied housing not because of who they are today, but because of something in their past that still follows them,” said Arianna Eddy, managing attorney for Iowa Legal Aid’s expungement project. “By embedding expungement and collateral consequences relief directly into eviction prevention services, we can remove those barriers in real time, before a family loses their home.”
By integrating these services into eviction prevention efforts in Linn and Polk Counties, we’re meeting people where they are and responding quickly—before a housing crisis becomes homelessness.
The Innovation in Homelessness Incubator, funded through IFA’s Emergency and Innovative Housing Fund, supports bold ideas that rethink how Iowa responds to homelessness. Out of eighteen proposals statewide, only four finalists advanced to pitch their concepts to a panel of national and state housing experts. We’re proud to stand alongside fellow awardee Friends of the Family, whose Encampment to Housed initiative will rapidly connect individuals living in encampments to safe, permanent housing.
This investment affirms what we know to be true: homelessness prevention works best when systems are coordinated, barriers are removed early, and people are treated with dignity. At Iowa Legal Aid, we’re grateful for the opportunity to pilot an approach that strengthens housing stability—not just for today, but for the long term.