The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) has renewed its contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer the federal agency’s Project-Based Section 8 rental assistance program.

The two-year contract, which is valued at approximately $5 million, continues the IFA’s role in ensuring that the owners of Iowa’s 234 Section 8 properties fulfill their obligations to provide quality and affordable housing to eligible families.

The profits generated from the program will be used to help preserve and advance affordable housing through a variety of programs, the IFA said in a release.

“The renewal of the Project-Based Section 8 program contract makes sense for Iowa,” said the IFA Executive Director Dave Jamison. “This program is consistent with the Iowa Finance Authority’s mission to ensure the advancement of safe, decent and affordable housing in Iowa. This will not only allow the Iowa Finance Authority to continue the effective administration of the program, but it will also allow for the continuation of investing the program’s profits back into other affordable housing initiatives throughout the state.”

Created by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, the Project-Based Section 8 program provides rental assistance to families with incomes no greater than 80 percent of the area’s median income.

The IFA has administered the program in Iowa since 2000.