Governor Chet Culver recently announced Bret Mills as his choice for the new Director of Iowa’s Department of Economic Development (DED). Mills currently serves as the Director of the Iowa Finance Authority, and will replace interim DED Director Fred Hubbell. Former deputy Director of IFA Joe O’Hern will replace Bret Mills as Director. Gov. Culver also announced that the HOME Investment Program will be repositioned from DED to IFA — the state’s primary agency for dealing with housing issues — to consolidate key federal housing resources under one authority. The move will ease the administration of Iowa’s collective housing programs and co-locate the HOME Program with the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program, also administered through IFA. 
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