Business View Civil Municipal June 2023

94 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 6 It offers a $10,000 economic development grant to anyone who builds such a new home as long as its value exceeds $125,000. “We’ve also been creative with finding approaches to fund multi-family and low- income housing projects,” Simonson adds. To that end, the city worked with the JBS Corporation, one of its legacy firms, to build affordable housing for its own employees. In 2021, it gave the go-ahead for a 108-unit apartment development which opened for occupancy this past January. “We know that housing is a barrier to new jobs,” Simonson relates. “JBS was a partner because they have jobs to fill and they can’t get a place for people to stay when they look at jobs in Ottumwa. We also know that the problem’s bigger than just apartment housing, but that 108 units take the pressure off and give us the time to do other things. JBS has also been involved in buying distressed housing, flipping it, and making it available