Leaders say bridging Greenfield housing gap will take teamwork between many groups

Scott Tonderum, representing the Greenfield Community Development Corporation (GCDC), asked the city council for their support in a joint effort that is hoped to be ahead for community leaders as they move forward to try to generate more housing for the community.

While there has been a considerable effort of rebounding in the tornado-damaged area of town, Tonderum estimates that only 60-80 homes will be able to be built in that area. He said a sum of 183 homes or businesses were completely lost because of the storm.

GCDC had a plot of land for housing development on the south side of town behind the Greenfield Municipal Utilities shop, however Tonderum said the group is starting to look elsewhere.

“We’ve gotta find a place for up to 100 houses and maybe up to 200. We were short before the tornado,” Tonderum said.

He said the next step is to ask the city for participation as a combined group will be needed to explore with the task of finding solutions to the housing shortage. This could include representatives from the city, GMU, Greenfield Chamber Main Street, Greater Greenfield Foundation and more.

“We would like this to be a joint effort moving forward and would like somebody that can come to a meeting to work on this and bring it back to the respective boards and councils,” Tonderum said. “It’s something we need to move on fast.”

Tonderum said there are not a lot of properties available to build on in city limits. Vacant lots after the tornado peaked at about 18, however that number is down below six again. These are single lots that are not adjacent to each other.

City councilman Jeff Clayton said if city will have to annex because there’s no place to build, that comes with its own challenges.

“Until we actually find a piece of property that we can get, figure out how we’re going to purchase it and figure out how to develop it we’re not going to get developers to come to Greenfield and put up a housing development. We’re waiting for that and it will never happen,” Tonderum said. “We want to do this as partners and figure out how to survive this. If we don’t, things are going to get a lot worse.”

Greenfield Chamber Main Street and Development Director Stacie Eshelman reiterated that it will be a process to decide how or where the community could develop more housing. Until an entire group gets together to talk about it, it’s hard to say what exact options are.

Tonderum said funding mechanisms will need to be visited again when talking about development, like tax increment financing (TIF). That is a tool that calls for local taxing entities to make a combined investment in the development or redevelopment of an area, with the aim that any short-term gains are reinvested and leveraged so that all taxing entities receive larger financial gains in the future. A program all about TIF was given for the council in May 2023.

Councilwoman Rita Eble stated it might be good to reach out to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Des Moines to see if they would be interested in building more homes than the two they are already committed to building here.

“It needs to be looked on from a broader [sense],” Clayton said of any development. “That’s my opinion.”