Jun 11, 2024

Homebuilder scouts Iowa communities for places to build ‘workforce housing’

Posted Jun 11, 2024 8:34 PM

(Radio Iowa) - A central Iowa real estate developer and property manager is launching what’s being called Hometown Tours of a half-dozen Iowa communities where businesses are hungry for help and housing is scarce.

Karie Kading (KAY-ding) Ramsey, C-E-O of Kading Properties of Urbandale, says they’ll start in the Wayne County town of Corydon on Thursday. Ramsey says lots of Missouri license plates are coming over the border to work and the goal is to convert them to Iowa plates. Kading has built houses in more than two-dozen Iowa towns over the past five decades.

By eliminating the need for long commutes, Ramsey says Kading helps employers retain skilled labor and boosts local economies, while saving families time and money on travel and fuel. She says so-called workforce housing may be individual houses, townhomes, bi-attached houses or whatever works best in the community. Corydon is first on the tour and the other five communities will be announced next week.