Iowa State is currently in talks with Volunteers of America on building a 20-resident low-income elderly housing project on a five-acre plot of university land.

Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance, introduced the plan to the Ames City Council in a presentation at its meeting Tuesday evening.

The housing units will be developed on university land, near Ontario Street and the Applied Sciences Building. Because the university, a state entity, owns the land, it doesn’t need to adhere to Ames building codes. Madden said the university wants to get input from the public on the project and intends to work with the city on building codes.

Madden said the housing project would be a “win-win opportunity” for the university and the City of Ames because it offers affordable housing for elderly residents and many research opportunities for the university.

Volunteers of America, a national non-profit organization that has been involved in numerous housing projects throughout the country, will be in charge of managing and maintaining the housing units, as well as constructing them. The university has “expertise” in various areas and will be able to assist Volunteers of America with designing affordable and energy-efficient housing, he said.

This is the first time Volunteers of America has worked with a university on a project. The project will allow the university to do research in many areas, such as building affordable energy-efficient housing and studying the residents themselves.

Madden said the next step for the university in the project is getting public input while Volunteers for America files a request for federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Once a grant for funding the project is received from the department, the university and Volunteers for America will have 18 months to develop designs for the project, which members of the ISU community will be heavily involved in, Madden said.

The City Council also approved the purchase of five new CyRide buses, which Steve Schainker, city manager, said would help “decrease the average age of the fleet.” The council also confirmed the appointments of two Government of the Student Body members, Sen. Michael Heilman, junior in political science, and Kayla Pinegar, junior in accounting and GSB treasurer, to the Ames Transit Agency Board of Trustees.