The Iowa Innovation in Homelessness Incubator pitch competition recognizes innovative approaches that advance the goal of making homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring across Iowa. Finalist teams will present their proposals at the 2026 HousingIowa Conference, showcasing new ideas and solutions to strengthen communities and improve outcomes for Iowans experiencing homelessness.
A panel of expert judges will select the winning projects, with up to $200,000 in total funding available to support innovative solutions to homelessness.
Register for the 2026 HousingIowa Conference to see the finalist teams pitch their projects live on September 9, 2026, from 2:00–4:45 p.m. and hear directly from the teams behind these innovative proposals.
2026 Finalists:
Shut the Front Door: Keeping Iowans Housed Before Shelter is Needed
New Visions Homeless Services, Council Bluffs
Shut the Front Door: Keeping Iowans Housed Before Shelter Is Needed is an innovative homelessness prevention initiative that transforms the front door of emergency shelter into the front line of housing solutions. By combining dedicated diversion staff, flexible financial assistance, trauma-informed housing problem-solving, and strong community partnerships, the initiative helps individuals resolve housing crises before shelter becomes necessary. Already being developed in partnership with a local Foundation, and the Threshold Continuum of Care, this project completes New Visions’ continuum of care and creates a model that can be replicated by communities across Iowa.
Community Integrated Health Program
Shelter House, Iowa City
The Community Integrated Health Program (CIHP) is an innovative partnership between Shelter House, Iowa City and UI Health Care that brings comprehensive medical care directly to people experiencing homelessness. CIHP embeds supervised Internal Medicine resident clinics within Shelter House locations, delivering primary care, chronic disease management, wound care, and post-hospital follow-up for individuals who face significant barriers to traditional clinic-based services. By integrating shelter-based care into the health system’s electronic medical record, CIHP creates seamless coordination across hospitals, emergency departments, outreach teams, and homelessness response services. This closed-loop model improves continuity of care, reduces reliance on emergency departments for non-emergent needs, and addresses medical instability that often undermines housing transitions and long-term stability.
CIHP is data-driven, equity-focused, and designed for sustainability. It prioritizes early intervention for individuals with complex health needs while strengthening cross-system collaboration between healthcare and homelessness response organizations. With a model that is both scalable and replicable, CIHP offers a forward-looking approach to improving health outcomes, advancing housing stability, and strengthening Iowa’s homelessness response system. Ultimately, CIHP affirms that homelessness is not solely a housing issue, nor is healthcare solely a clinical concern. Both are matters of social justice. By aligning healthcare delivery with homelessness response, CIHP advances a more just, effective, and compassionate system of care.
Preventing Homelessness by Reducing Barriers to Participation in Job Training Programs
Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, Dubuque
This initiative is designed to sustainably prevent and alleviate homelessness by reducing barriers to participation in job training programs for living-wage, high-demand careers. By providing rental assistance to individuals earning a career pathway certificate, this pilot provides households living paycheck to paycheck with the support necessary to upskill or reskill themselves to self-sufficiency.