Des Moines announced in late April that construction on the first three homes of an affordable housing program is nearly complete.
The Central Iowa Community Land Trust is working on expanding permanent affordable housing with the new homes being built in the Columbus Park, Highland Park and Oak Park neighborhoods in Des Moines. The land trust is a nonprofit that was created in collaboration with Des Moines, West Des Moines and Polk County in 2024 — and it's unique in Iowa.
A community land trust builds homes with private or public investment. The trust sells the homes to low-income buyers, but continues to own the land. The whole process, including reselling the home to the next buyer, goes through the land trust. That keeps the home sale outside of the traditional market and helps maintain the affordability of the homes.
Land Trust Project Manager Jaqueline Chico said this method keeps the homes affordable for both current and future buyers.
“If they were to decide to sell the home, the restriction would be that they wouldn’t be able to sell it on the open market,” she said.
Chico said if the homeowner decides to move, they agree to sell the house to another income-eligible buyer. The Land Trust manages the sale, which allows them to avoid increased market rates and tailor the costs to what future buyers can afford.
The homebuyer’s mortgage payment would be limited to up to 30% of their annual gross pay. Chico said even though buyers don’t own the land their home stands on, they can build equity on the home itself and the home will be more affordable for the next buyer.
Buying through the traditional market can be especially difficult for lower-income individuals and families. The median new construction home price in the Des Moines area sits at around $467,000 — a price that’s unaffordable for 74% of households, according to the Polk County Housing Trust Fund’s latest annual report.
Chico said she thinks that as Iowa grows, affordability needs to expand with it.
“I think that the Central Iowa Community Land Trust is really going to open up doors in order to give Iowans different opportunities to grow in different communities,” she said.
Interested buyers would go through homeownership training before being considered for a home. The programs include homebuyer education lessons and classes on how shared equity works. They're designed to prepare prospective buyers for the responsibility of home ownership under the Land Trust model.
Chico said part of the goal is offering both affordability and a support system through the process.
“It’s really about having a community and someone there as additional support as you’re in the homebuyer experience,” she said.
The Land Trust will add people who have gone through the training to a pool of potential buyers who can apply to purchase a home. Applicants will also be assessed on factors like their financial and housing stability, readiness for homeownership and how much they would benefit from the Land Trust, according to the group’s website.
Chico said the trust will also support the buyer after they’ve purchased a home by helping them budget and prepare for costs that may come up, like repairs.
“It’s really that partnership in one, being prepared, and two, finding the resources if you need additional assistance,” she said.
The first homes becoming available through the Central Iowa Community Land Trust were built by the housing nonprofit HOME, Inc. and Invest DSM in parts of the city that have been targeted for redevelopment. These areas are called Special Investment Districts, which are identified by the nonprofit Invest DSM for revitalization.
But the Land Trust’s long-term goal is to expand across central Iowa. Chico said other cities, developers and organizations can also work with the Land Trust.
“We can have homes that are donated. We can have partnerships with developers," Chico said. "We can have just a lot of different options."
She said having partnerships in different areas would allow project sites to expand across the region. They want Land Trust homes to be an option for any area a buyer might be interested in, Chico added.
“If they want to go to a specific school district, they can go there,” she said. “It gives them opportunity to really choose where you want to live and have that dignity.”
The Land Trust is aiming to reach 100 homes in the next three years, which will mark five years since the initiative began.
