A New Vision
Townhome project in Waukee extends Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity mission.
When Habitat for Humanity was founded in the 1970s, its mission was to provide an affordable place to live for those who need it. That mission has never changed. And the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity (GDM Habitat), established in the mid-1980s, has been accomplishing that mission right here in central Iowa, serving more than 2,000 families who otherwise might not have been able to purchase a home.
What has changed, especially in the last five years, is the size of the market that GDM Habitat is serving. “The market has really come to us,” says Lance Henning, GDM Habitat CEO. “More and more potential buyers have been priced out of the market as home prices have risen. Our target homeowner used to be lower-income families. Today, it’s the average worker—teachers, police officers, the people who make our communities function.”
To address that escalating need, GDM Habitat has taken on its largest construction project ever, creating a new vision for what the nonprofit can accomplish. Walnut Crossing in Waukee, which broke ground in April, will ultimately provide housing for 48 families.
This new housing model, which Henning refers to as workforce housing, will not only continue GDM Habitat’s mission of providing affordable housing, but it will enable communities like Waukee to draw the growing workforce needed to fill jobs in retail and service industries that are expanding into the suburb.
“Waukee currently has no truly affordable housing for the average employee,” says GDM Habitat’s Danny Akright. “That’s something community leaders had been actively pursuing and committed to achieving.”
The leadership at GDM Habitat had been discussing ways the organization could also meet this growing need, so when they became aware of the opportunity in Waukee, they were prepared.
“On the outside, the pace of development moves rather slowly,” Henning says. “But at the same time, this project came together pretty easily because we had already been discussing possible plans for a project like this, and Waukee city leaders had been preparing in hopes of finding a developer to pursue the project with them.”
The infrastructure is currently underway, and interested buyers have already begun applying for the 3- to 5-bedroom townhomes.
“We anticipate our first closing in the development to take place in about a year,” Akright says. “And our plan is to complete and close on about three each month from that point on until all are occupied by the summer of 2026.”
The townhomes, which will be built in blocks of four, will feature two stories of living space above a two-car garage. Most will be built on slab foundations, with a few on basement foundations, depending on the location within the development. As with all Habitat properties, buyers will be required to put in sweat equity during construction, and Habitat will work with the homeowners to secure affordable financing.
“This is definitely the largest project we’ve ever done,” says Akright. “We’ve built multi-home projects with 15 or 24 homes in one neighborhood, but nothing like this. It’s one of the largest in the Midwest that any Habitat organization has done.”
As GDM Habitat looks ahead at the production schedule, Akright says they’ll be breaking new ground with volunteer and partner opportunities as well. “In some ways, a project this size brings new challenges when it comes to scheduling everything. But it also makes it easier to coordinate contractors because they know there will be weeks of work in this one location,” Akright says.
Henning says the initial volunteer opportunities will be similar to other GDM Habitat projects. “We often do wall builds off-site, inside, and we’ll be doing that for the townhome project, too,” he says. “That’s something we can schedule without worrying about the weather, and we can adjust for different volunteer groups.”
In the past two years, GDM Habitat has averaged about 30 homes annually, so the Walnut Crossing project represents an exponential increase for the nonprofit. Henning says that also reflects the exponential growth in the need for housing within the Des Moines metro communities.
“We’re at the early stages of a project on the northeast side of Des Moines,” he says. “And within four miles of that neighborhood, there are more than 30,000 jobs. Nearly two-thirds of those are within the income parameters that qualify for a Habitat home.”
As its mission states, GDM Habitat seeks “to put God’s love into action… founded on the conviction that every person should have a decent, safe, and affordable place to live.”
With Walnut Crossing and future projects like it, that mission can be achievable for more families than ever.
Check it Out
Learn more about Walnut Crossing at GDMHabitat.org/programs-services/waukee/.
Get involved!
Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity welcomes partnerships with local contractors, corporate sponsors, and volunteers. Learn more about how you and your business can help support the mission of affordable housing for the Des Moines area. GDMHabitat.org