A groundbreaking ceremony held this week in Ankeny celebrated the start of a new Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity project that includes the construction of four duplexes.

Each duplex unit will be bought by a qualifying homebuyer with an affordable mortgage.

The duplexes will be built in Kimberley Crossing, a development in northeast Ankeny east of Northeast 22nd Street and north and south of Northeast 56th Street. Each three- to four-bedroom duplex unit will include 1,198 square feet of living space. Construction of the homes is  expected to be completed in the first half of 2024.

“Some of the best resources available in Central Iowa exist in communities like Ankeny,” Lance Henning, the nonprofit’s CEO, said. “Each of us wants to choose where we live, but for the folks we serve, choice is almost always a luxury that’s out of their price range. By building in communities like Ankeny as well as in our traditional target neighborhoods, we can provide that choice for our homebuyers.”

The project includes two firsts for Greater Des Moines Habitat: It is the first time the group has built homes in Ankeny and it is the first time the group has built duplexes. (The organization has had a presence in Ankeny. It has renovated a house and completed 12 critical home repair projects through its home preservation program.)

The groundbreaking event coincided with the release of a new study that showed that an increasing percentage of households in the U.S. are cost-burdened, meaning more than 30% of a household’s income is spent on housing.

In Iowa, 23.6% of households spend 30% or more of their income on housing, up from 2019 when 20.2% of the state’s households were considered cost-burdened. More than 1 in 10 Iowa households spend 50% or more of their income on housing, according to the study published by the Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

In the Des Moines area, 68,100 households (nearly 1 in 4) are cost-burdened, including 30,600 households that are severely cost-burdened, according to the study.

“As housing prices rise, the cost of housing becomes a burden for thousands of hardworking families,” Henning said. “These folks – the same ones who care for our loved ones in hospitals and nursing homes, clean our office buildings, manufacture the products we buy, and make the food we eat – are priced out of their American dream.”

The monthly payment for homebuyers in Habitat for Humanity’s program is set at no more than 30% of the household’s monthly income, according to a news release. This year, the organization plans on helping 30 households buy homes.