The Rebuilding Ownership Opportunities Together (ROOTs) program in Cedar Rapids built 869 homes after the 2008 flood before going dormant in 2017. After the 2020 derecho, the program was revived with a similar mission and slightly altered framework.
City officials and contractors who are part of the program are highlighting its benefits, both for the participating builders and the residents who’ve been able to acquire a new home at an entry-level price point.
ROOTs — then and now
The ROOTs initiative was founded to rebuild homes after the 2008 flood, in a partnership between the City of Cedar Rapids and the Iowa Economic Development Authority.
Funds for the effort came through the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-CR) program.
The program proved highly successful. According to official reports, 869 homes were built and sold to income-qualified households through four rounds of the program, through partnerships with 58 local builders and 53 local lenders.
By the time the program officially closed in 2017, it had garnered public investment of more than $40 million and private investment of over $80 million. Tax value for the new homes totaled nearly $40 million, doubling the properties’ pre-flood value.
That kind of success served as inspiration to launch ROOTs 2.0 — and a similar program for 32 homes in Linn and Benton counties, facilitated by the East Central Iowa Council of Governments — after the August 2020 derecho destroyed several homes throughout the Corridor and damaged countless more.
“Disaster recovery funds started coming in, and we wanted to determine how we could get money to people to help in the biggest ways possible,” said Laura Shaw, housing services manager for the City of Cedar Rapids. “The derecho didn’t impact as many houses as the flood, of course, but it was still pretty catastrophic for our community. So we fell back to the idea that (ROOTs) was a really successful program. Could we make it work again? So that’s how it came about.”
As before, funding for the new ROOTs program was provided under the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant — Disaster Recovery (CDBG–DR) program. The program allocated $15 million for the construction of 76 new homes.
Current program’s operation
The new version of the program officially launched in February 2024, when applications were opened for prospective new homeowners.
“The ROOTs program represents the city’s continued commitment to addressing affordable housing needs,” said City Manager Jeff Pomeranz. “This program will be transformative, and we think the families will be thrilled with the quality of homes provided.”
“Affordable housing remains a key focus area for our City Council and in our city planning efforts,” added Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell. “We encourage all eligible individuals to take advantage of this opportunity to secure stable housing for themselves and their families.”
There’s one key difference in the current ROOTs iteration, Ms. Shaw said —the locations of the homes themselves.
“Most of the units that we’re looking at in this round are going into up and coming, newly-developed neighborhoods,” she said, “as opposed to infill in previously established neighborhoods.”
Of particular note, the homes in the program are capped at a $175,000 purchase price, with up to $35,000 of downpayment assistance depending on financial status. While buyers still have to qualify for financing, the program’s provisions could bring a total mortgage down to $140,000 — a much lower price point than other entry-level homes.
Developers’ projects
Several builders applied to be part of the ROOTs program, and a total of five developers were approved for projects in three of Cedar Rapids’ four quadrants.
- Gingko Ridge LLC is building 16 units near the Czech Village in southwest Cedar Rapids, near Summit Avenue SW.
- Abode Construction is building a total of 30 units — 16 along Foxtail Drive NE and another 14 in the Kirkwood Village development north of Kirkwood Parkway SW.
- TW Homes is building 25 units in the Green Acres Grove development, off the new extension of 33rd Avenue SW near Highway 30.
- Urban Acres and GLD, through subsidiary WWI3, are building three homes — one each along Cherry Hill Road NW, Meadowlark Lane NW and Fruitland Blvd. SW.
- And Aspect Inc. is building two homes in the Shamrock Village development along Second Avenue SW, west of Sixth Street.
The homes are in various stages of development. Several have already been completed and are occupied, but Ms. Shaw said in early November that 42 of the units are still available, either under construction or in the development process. Potential buyers can apply online or with printed application documents.
Home specifics
Several layouts are available depending on the buyer and the builder, with two- and three-bedroom options.
Joshua Bass, who’s developing the Ginkgo Ridge project with partner Alex Frazier, said the Ginkgo Ridge development generally consists of three-story, two-bedroom, 1.5 bath units, with a total of about 1,300 square feet of living space. Most are in threeplexes or fourplexes. They include a drive-under garage on the ground floor, with living spaces on the upper two stories.
One single-family house is also included in the development.
Mr. Bass said the program included several requirements governing where the housing units would be built — including being within the city limits, where development space can be difficult to locate.
“The development can’t be near a noisy street, it can’t be by noisy railroad tracks, it has to be by a park or two, a bus stop,” Mr. Frazier said. “You couldn’t have any Native American artifacts or worship [materials] in the ground. The list is very long. There weren’t a lot of sites in Cedar Rapids that worked.”
“With our development, we’ve got access to the Cedar Valley Trail,” Mr. Bass added. “We also have to be within so many miles of a grocery store. When we chose the development site, we had to take all those other factors into consideration. So that’s how we arrived at Summit (Avenue).”
Previously, Mr. Bass and Mr. Frazier had primarily worked on infill development projects in existing neighborhoods, so Ginkgo Ridge is a relatively new endeavor.
Site work is still underway, since the project is along a newly-built street, and some foundations are in the ground.
Kennedy Kustes, sales and design coordinator for Abode Construction, said there was a lot of competition for builders to participate in the ROOTs program.
“There were a lot of other big names in the area that also tried to get awarded the funding for the homes, and were unable to,” she said. “It came down to the fact that we were able to offer a lot of area for the grant to take off.”
Abode’s homes are available in three separate floor plans — two bedrooms and one bathroom, two bedrooms and two bathrooms, or three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with total square footage ranging from 1,267 to 1,300 square feet.
“They’re all going to be the same basic style, and then you get to choose between the three layouts,” Ms. Kustes said.”That was something different that we were able to do as a builder that was competitive with the other builders in the program. We are able to offer those layout options depending on configuration.”
Once approved, buyers are also able to make some materials choices, in areas such as flooring options, she said.
Both Ginkgo Ridge’s and Abode’s developers said the houses they’re building would easily sell for $300,000 or more, were it not for the financial support of the CDBG-DR grants, which provide funds to both the builders and the homebuyers.
“What we’re ultimately excited about is these are really nice homes, because they have to be, to qualify for the grant,” Mr. Frazier said. “We can’t sell homes like this for what it costs to make them.”
“For an individual that qualifies for these homes, without this product, there’s no other option for new construction,” Mr. Bass added. “If you do qualify for a home (financially), normally, you’re buying an older home, sometimes a 100-year old-home, where your utility bills are through the roof, because they’re not efficient. If you’re buying a 100-year-old home for $150,000 or $175,000, there might not even be insulation in the walls.”
“It’s allowed us to build much more home (for the money),” Ms. Kustes said. “If you were to build a home like this outside the program, you definitely wouldn’t be able to offer it at the price point that the ROOTs program is offering.”
Resiliency, efficiency requirements
One key element that makes the ROOTs and ECICOG disaster recovery homes unique is their emphasis on resiliency and energy efficiency.
For example, all the program’s homes are required to meet “Green Streets” requirements, which generally involve integrating sustainable practices into the design and construction of a building.
Key “Green Streets” requirements include meeting mandatory measures for green stormwater management (such as volume control, peak discharge reduction and water quality control), achieving a minimum number of optional points from a checklist, using an integrative design process and documenting green development goals. They also often require adherence to other standards like the LEED rating system or specific energy codes.
“These units are definitely more efficient than a standard house,” Mr. Bass said. “We have a HERS (Home Energy Rating System) of 47. The program requires a HERS rating of 56 or less. That just speaks to the efficiency of the home in a quick, simple number, so the lower the number, the more efficient the house is.”
Structural resiliency is also a key component of the program, since the homes are intended as replacements for disaster-impacted structures.
“There’s an additional standard that not everybody has to abide by,” Mr. Bass said. “There’s additional funding (available) if you choose to abide by the Fortified construction standard. Fortified was creating a construction standard that is applicable to insurance companies.”
In Ginkgo Ridge’s case, homes are being built to the silver Fortified standard, Mr. Bass said, which means they’re designed to withstand various types of severe weather, such as high winds, hail, hurricanes, and even tornadoes.
“That essentially means that our housing units will have wind-resistant, impact-resistant shingles, so they can take a stronger wind load,” Mr. Bass said.
“It’s basically like being hurricane-proof,” Mr. Frazier said. “We don’t have these standards yet in Iowa, because we’ve never needed them. So by default, they’re (saying) let’s just do what hurricane people do. So that’s how we have to build.”
The units also have to have built-in safe spaces — and since the Abode Construction homes are built without basements, they include an in-unit storm shelter, bolted to the floor in the garage.
“It’s very safe,” Ms. Kustes said. “It’s hurricane-grade. Since it is a derecho-funded program, if there’s no basements, you need to have something that’s safe, like this.”
Benefits of program for developers
Not only is the program providing benefits for home buyers, it’s helping the builders as well, Mr. Bass noted.
“It’s the economics of any development,” he said. “We sell a unit, we make a profit. The difference is, with this project, it’s capped, so every developer can only make the same percentage. It allows for funding to come in and for there not to be any fraud or abuse. We know they’re going to audit our finances, and we know you can’t make more than x percent. But the state is incentivizing it enough to make it a good (investment).”
Still, there are benefits to the program beyond the financial bottom line, leaders and developers say.
“Thankfully, it’s not often that the city undergoes catastrophic events,” Ms. Shaw said. “But when that happens, we really have the opportunity to sit back as a city and say, how can we maintain and grow our community, and how can we work within the structures of the funding that’s coming in to make the most for our residents and for our communities … for this program in particular, the biggest difference is that having a larger amount where we can really leverage and work with developers to make this kind of an impact with a larger number of families. It’s one of the things that makes Cedar Rapids wonderful, that we’re always just looking out to try to build better, to get more people to lay down roots in our community and continue to grow here.”
“This is the first time we’ve dipped our toe into affordable housing,” Mr. Bass said. “And affordable housing is probably not the right term. This is not low income, and people often associate the two. This is to promote home ownership. The thing that we like about this is the opportunity to give somebody a new, efficient, affordable house, where otherwise there would be no product (available).”
It’s become gratifying for builders in a unique way, Ms. Kustes said.
“I’ve been more fulfilled with some of the purchases within this program than I have been in some of our regular purchases, because I’m helping people that have never purchased a home,” she said. “I’m helping immigrants that wouldn’t know how to purchase a home or go through the steps. I’ve helped first-time home buyers. I’ve helped single moms. I’ve helped people looking for a better opportunity for their kids. They’re emotional about it, and they get to actually customize and build their home with us. A lot of programs are one size fits all, very cookie cutter. So it’s been really cool to offer those options, and it’s been really rewarding.”
“We’re Cedar Rapidians,” Mr. Bass added. “This is our home. We want to see it grow and thrive. That’s why we’ve chosen to do infill, and that’s also why we’ve chosen to do this project. We want to see stuff in Cedar Rapids that people are excited about and encourage it.
“The biggest driving factor is that we want to be active in our community,” he added. “These funds from HUD ultimately allow us to be active. And the ulterior motive is we want to build cool stuff. We want Cedar Rapids to win, and when it does, we win too. So we’re really betting on ourselves.”
