Three months worth of construction has been completed on the first Jasper County Habitat for Humanity house in Newton in several years. The three-bedroom home at 501 South 2nd Avenue West is being purchased by a woman named Cassidy and her eight-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son. Cassidy is an amputee who has undergone over 20 surgeries, and works as a care coordinator for Capstone in Newton. Becca Decker, Community Partnership Coordinator for Jasper County Habitat for Humanity, says Cassidy is expected to close on the house in May, and have an affordable mortgage. 

Jasper County Habitat for Humanity is a division of the Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity, whose CEO is Lance Henning. 

“We serve Jasper, Polk, and Dallas counties. Our work is really about creating financing and preserving low-income homeownership, and trying to make that affordable for people who might not otherwise be able to own a home or stay in their home.”

The lot the Habitat for Humanity house sits on in Newton had a dilapidated home on it that was purchased by the City of Newton and demolished years earlier, under the city’s Dangerous and Dilapidated Buildings Program.