New affordable housing and more upgrades are coming to a rural city in Iowa

New affordable housing is coming to one rural city in Iowa. Housing is just one part of Vision Atlantic Inc.'s goal to bring more people to counties in western Iowa.

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One rural city in Iowa is getting an upgrade with new affordable housing and more family entertainment

ATLANTIC, Iowa —

New affordable housing is coming to one rural city in Iowa. Housing is just one part of Vision Atlantic Inc.’s goal to bring more people to counties in western Iowa.

Data from the Iowa Finance Authority shows that more than one-third of Iowans are spending at least 30 percent or more of their income on housing. In Nebraska, the Investment Finance Authority says 66 percent of households are not able to afford the median home price.

Now, Atlantic Iowa is getting an upgrade; people are working to put the city back on the map.

Christina Bateman, the president of Vision Atlantic Inc., said the last major housing development in the city was in 1978.

“Our goal really is to be the place that people want to be. We want to be their third place in Atlantic, Iowa. And actually, we want to carry that out to about a 40-mile radius or anybody that wants to come,” the executive director for the Atlantic YMCA, Dan Hayes, said.

The project costs $84 million and was started with grants from the Charles E. Lakin Foundation.

“$39 million is our fundraising goal, and today we’re at about $36.5 million. So we’re at 94% of the fundraising goal, which is just really incredible for our community, our size,” Bateman said.

In addition to 142 new housing units, the project also gives the city a new childcare center for 300 kids and a $20 million expansion to the local YMCA.

“We want a place to hang out, socialize. So that’s why we’re building them. Some of the things that are going to be in that expansion are a children’s museum; you don’t normally see those things in a YMCA,” Hayes said.

Hayes also said they will add a community theatre, steam room, e-sports room, and an indoor playground to the YMCA.

“Our community lost their theater a few years ago. We also lost our senior center. So we’re going to be we’re going to pick up the slack for all of those things that kind of went away,” Hayes said.

Vision Atlantic Inc. said they hope to break ground on the daycare this fall and start the YMCA addition early next year. Some of the houses are already built and on the market, but they hope all the affordable housing will be complete in four years.

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