WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — The city of West Des Moines will remain under COVID-19 restrictions until at least May 15th, but that's not stopping the community from conducting business as usual.
This includes the West Des Moines city council, who recently approved of spending more than $192,000 of CDBG-COVID-19 funds to assist residents who are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage and utility bills.
"They're called community development block grant funds," said West Des Moines Mayor Steven Gaer, "And we've we've been allocated close to a half a million dollars of those funds to help with COVID-19. So the main focus of that money is going to be homeless prevention. So we'll be able to use that money to help people make rent payments, mortgage payments, utility payments, and then along with our Human Services Department, with our clothing closet, and our food pantry, we're doing everything that we can as a city To help our lower income residents in particular able to get through this pandemic."
Anyone interested in finding out more about this program should call West Des Moines Human Services at 515-222-3660 to see if they qualify for assistance.
The COVID-19 hasn't stopped the progress of major construction projects around the city as well, which include: the approval of a site for a Dave and Busters, the Raccoon River Boathouse, the MidAmerican Energy RecPlex and the Jamie Hurd Amphitheater located by the City Campus Pond.
To stay up-to-date on the latest COVID-19 news, and developments regarding services and events, click here.