Advocate
Talk to your local and national elected officials about the need for increased affordable housing and homelessness resources. Discuss the need to listen to community voices and reduce barriers to housing and supportive services.
Several partners joined together on February 21, 2024 to speak with Senators as we urge them to introduce eviction expungement into the Senate Judiciary Committee. Pictures below of some of our partners going through the process of calling out a legislator. While eviction expungement passed for the third time in the House, it once again failed to move forward through the Senate Judiciary Committee. Efforts to pass eviction expungement will continue in 2025.
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Legislative Priority: Eviction Expungement
Homeward will be advocating for the introduction of HF548 on eviction expungement to the Senate Judiciary Committee with the desire to have this legislation voted upon by the full Senate. This bill passed out of the House with bi-partisan support in 2023 before it stalled in the Senate. This bill has significant support from entities including Conlin Properties, ACLU-Iowa, United Way of Central Iowa, Iowa State Bar Association, The Family Leader Foundation, Iowa Community Action Association, Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Polk County Board of Supervisors, Common Good Iowa, City of Des Moines, Iowa ACES 360, Iowa Housing Partnership, Iowa Catholic Conference, Soaring Hearts, and the Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance.
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Eviction Expungement talking points can be found HERE.
A fact sheet to understanding homelessness in Iowa can be found HERE.
A fact sheet to understand how Iowa data compares to surrounding states, can be found HERE.
A fact sheet published by Iowa Legal Aid related to 2023 and January 2024 eviction filings in Iowa can be found HERE.
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In 2024, Criminalization of homelessness also hit Iowa.
February 13, 2024...The Senate Study Bill 3175 was introduced for consideration by the Senate Local Government committee. This legislation, while temporarily pulled, criminalizes homelessness while diverting funding from effective program approaches to funding of required encampments. Cities could also be financially punished for not arresting individuals experiencing homelessness. This specific legislation is backed by the Cicero Institute. For talking points on how to respond to legislation criminalizing homelessness, please see the Housing not Handcuffs talking points HERE.
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Who are my legislators?
Often times, it can be difficult to track who is your local State Senator and Representative. That information can be found at www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find
Click HERE to see if your Senator serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the committee responsible for moving HF548 in the 2024 legislative session.
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For more on eviction record sealing and expungement, please see the National Low Income Housing Coalition's toolkit on Eviction Record Sealing and Expungement.
*ACTION ALERTS*
Often times, legislative action occurs with little to no warning and requires mobilization of advocates to contact their respective legislators. If you would like to be included in any Action Alerts, please complete the information in the Alert Email Text box.
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One Iowa Action updates a legislative tracker every Friday during session to keep individuals informed about what is happening in the legislative realm.
How is homelessness connected to LGBTQ+ status?
It's important to note that according to a 2020 UCLA study, 8% of transgendered adults experience homelessness as compared to 3% of cisgendered straight adults. Moreover, 17% of sexual minority adults experience homelessness as compared to 6% of cisgender straight people. (https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-homelessness-us/)
