Volunteers raised the walls of a new house on West 19th Place in Indianola last week, the first Warren County Habitat for Humanity build since the local program joined Greater Des Moines Habitat. Teams from Simpson College, Wells Fargo and Mount Calvary Lutheran Church worked on the walls over three days, while a Warren County crew handled the basement and concrete work, the Indianola Independent Advocate reported.
The project is an early test of a new division of work: Greater Des Moines Habitat has taken on Warren County’s administrative role, while local volunteers continue building and supporting homeowners. The organizations say the change is intended to let local volunteers concentrate more on homes and community work. Greater Des Moines Habitat’s Warren County program page lists affordable homeownership, critical home repairs and modifications, and homebuyer coaching among the services it provides in the county.
The wider organization’s reported figures offer context for its scale, but are not a direct measure of Warren County construction. Greater Des Moines Habitat’s 2025 annual report says 43 new homeowners closed on homes that year. It also reports 190 affordable homeownership opportunities completed from 2020 through 2025 in Polk, Dallas and Jasper counties; that figure does not include Warren County.
Warren County Habitat has built 23 homes since its founding, usually about one a year in Indianola, according to the Advocate. The chapter recently dedicated its 23rd house, and the new West 19th Place project is expected to be completed by May 2027. Habitat is seeking a homeowner for the house while construction proceeds, a change from the chapter’s usual practice of selecting a family before work begins.
Prospective buyers for the home must be able to afford a mortgage on a house valued at up to $275,000 while meeting Habitat’s assistance criteria. The Advocate reported that applicants must complete financial, credit and home-buying courses and contribute sweat-equity hours in exchange for a low-interest mortgage. Greater Des Moines Habitat also describes homebuyer coaching as part of its Warren County services.
The build comes amid broader local planning around housing, though the available city material does not connect that planning to this house. The City of Indianola’s housing-needs assessment examines housing stock, market conditions and household demographics to guide housing initiatives; its page does not identify findings specific to the West 19th Place project.
Habitat officials plan to meet with Indianola city officials about a site for the chapter’s next build, the Advocate reported. The current project therefore marks both a continuation of Warren County’s local building effort and its first house under the new administrative arrangement.
