SWIPCO exists for our cities, counties, and customers.

Dave Riedemann, SWIPCO's Housing Program Adminis-trator, offers Lead Safe Renovator training certification for contractors. This training is a requirement for all contractors wishing to bid on HUD funded rehab projects. Beginning April 22nd the EPA is requiring Lead Safe Renovator certification for ALL contractors and tradesmen who will be disturbing painted surfaces in "target" housing, as defined by HUD 24 CFR. This requirement will apply to all work on pre-1978 housing regardless of the source of funding. For more information, please contact Dave at dave.riedemann@swipco.org

Note: No classes are scheduled at this time due to regulation changes taking place in April 2010. When the next class is scheduled we will post it here, so check back often.

SWIPCO, serving sixty-three municipalities in eight counties - Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Millls, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie and Shelby.

Region Map

SWIPCO is governed by a 17 member Policy Council consisting of one supervisor from each county board, six citizens who are appointed by the county boards and three that are selected by the Council. These members represent the areas of business, education, human services, economic development, government and community life.

Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund

The Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund, Inc. was created in 2006 with a mission to “improve affordable housing options in southwest Iowa.” By the end of FY 2009, we had provided 228 services for $1,104,953. We expect to grow each year as we find more and more opportunities to address housing needs in the counties of Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie (excluding Council Bluffs) and Shelby Counties.

Our services fall into the following areas:

Housing Repairs to address health, safety, and energy efficient deficiencies in owner-occupied homes. We assisted 174 households through June 30, 2009. We continue to maintain a waiting list of over 200 households. Most common work items are roofs, furnaces, and windows.

Homeownership Assistance to help lower income households purchase their own home. The assistance is the form of 5-year forgivable loans and low interest loans. We provided 54 loans for $273,183.

Purchase, Rehab, & Resell is a new form of improvement that started in FY 2009. Our first home is in Shelby and needed extensive repairs and energy improvements. The home has 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, open living space, garage, etc. Work is completed and is ready for purchase by a family meeting income limits. West Central Community Action is a partner in this project. Once this house is sold, we will purchase, remodel, and resell another home in southwest Iowa.

Rental Repair is a new program starting in FY 2010. The units must be owned by a non-profit entity and must house residents that meet 30% of median income limits. The properties can include transitional housing, such as domestic abuse or homeless shelters.

Demolition of blighted properties also is a new program starting in FY 2010. There is a very limited amount of money and assistance is on a first-come first-serve basis. It will pay for one-half the cost to demolish an unsafe building and create a buildable lot.

A big part of the SWIHTF is our Partnership Program. Our Partners are counties, cities, real estate agencies, banks, contractors, etc. that believe in our mission, to “improve affordable housing options in southwest Iowa.”

Their tax free contributions help leverage the state and federal grant funds and are essential to our ability to continue services. We greatly appreciate the contributions and hope you consider being a PARTNER too!

Thanks to our 2009 Partners
Diamond Membership ~ $1,000+ Cass County City of Harlan Mills County Montgomery County Page County Pottawattamie County Shelby County	Silver Membership ~ $300-$499 Terry Knapp Real Estate Midstates Bank City of Walnut West Central Iowa Board
Bronze Membership ~ $100-$299
Agri-Metro Realty LLC Central Realty Farmers & Merchants Bank Jim Hughes Real Estate City of Portsmouth Western Iowa Development Asso.	Boustead Real Estate City of Essex Farmers Trust & Savings Bank City of Lewis Shelby County State Bank City of Woodbine

Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund Board of Directors


Randy Baxter	Government/Community Development	Cass County
Cory Gordon	Real Estate	Fremont County
Lori Holste	Economic & Community Dev.	Pottawattamie County
Kate Kaminsky	Attorney	Mills County
Roger Kenkel	Banking	Harrison County
Terry Knapp	Real Estate	Shelby County
Gary McClarnon	Government	Page County
Jim Parker	Developer	Montgomery County
Brad Wright	Government	Montgomery County

The Housing Program at SWIPCO is a two part program. It provides services within the SWIPCO territory and it works cooperatively with the Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund, Inc. (SWIHTF), sharing staff and administrative facilities. On this page you find details regarding the services offered through SWIHTF programming. Details regarding the other housing services offered by SWIPCO can be found on the SWIPCO Housing Page.