Homes for Iowa marked a significant milestone this week in Mason City with the placement of its 150th prisoner-built home in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of North Central Iowa. The program is approaching its fifth year of operation and reflects significant multi-agency collaboration to address the state’s housing shortfall, with the added benefit of reducing recidivism rates. Homes for Iowa builds modular homes on-site at the Newton Correctional Facility through a partnership with the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) and Iowa Prison Industries (IPI). Once constructed, the homes are delivered on trailers to pre-prepared plots for private clients or pseudo-governmental developers. The program offers incarcerated individuals hands-on training in skilled trades, providing a path to employment after completing their sentences. Homes for Iowa delivered its first home in 2020 to Jefferson, followed shortly by Perry, with Region XII Council of Governments serving as the developer for those projects. Since its first delivery in 2020, Homes for Iowa has delivered around 30 homes per year in more than 50 Iowa counties. Correspondingly, Iowa recorded its lowest recidivism rate in a decade, 32.8 percent, for the Fiscal Year 2022-2025 cohort. While difficult to attribute directly to the Homes for Iowa program, it does suggest DOC’s and IPI’s efforts are improving outcomes for prior offenders.
