How many subsidized housing units are available in Iowa?
Data updated August 27, 2024
About 41,234 subsidized housing units in Iowa in 2023. Approximately 14% of these were unoccupied and available to rent. Federally subsidized rental housing began with 1937’s US Housing Act, which created the United States Housing Authority and provided financial assistance to state and local governments for housing low-income people. Since then, the government has provided housing assistance to low-income renters through programs overseen by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Showing data for
In 2023
41.2K
subsidized housing units existed in Iowa
In 2023
5.8K
subsidized housing units were unoccupied and available to rent
In 2023
14%
of all subsidized housing units were available to rent
There were about 34,591 occupied subsidized housing units in Iowa in 2022, and around 372,679 occupied rental units — subsidized and unsubsidized — in the state. That means approximately 9.3% of all occupied rentals in Iowa were provided by housing assistance programs. In 2022, 16% of all subsidized units in Iowa were vacant, compared with 5% of all rental properties.
The number of available subsidized housing units varies throughout Iowa. Administered by local public housing authorities (PHAs), availability is shaped by local policy and factors like geography (e.g., urban vs. rural vs. suburban), need, and more.
In 2023, Webster County had the most subsidized housing units per 10K people.
Subsidized housing can take different forms — from high-rise buildings to garden-style apartments to single-family dwellings, duplexes, and more — but all are accessed via eight different housing assistance programs under HUD. These are classified as either public housing; tenant-based programs; or privately-owned, project-based housing.
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Tenant-based programs — known today as the Housing Choice Voucher program — were the most common form of housing assistance, providing 24,108 housing units in Iowa in 2023. Housing vouchers allow recipients to choose their own housing in the private market, provided it meets program requirements. These vouchers account for 58.5% of the subsidized housing stock in Iowa.
Tenant assistance was the most common type of housing program in 2023.
Privately-owned, project-based programs provide subsidized housing in larger, multifamily housing developments through agreements between landlords and HUD, and account for approximately 31.92% of all subsidized housing in Iowa.
The remainder of subsidized units — 9.61% of the total — are public housing, where units are built and managed by local housing agencies.
