(Radio Iowa) – The southeast Iowa city of Fairfield has bought two homes that were built as part of an Iowa prison work program. The nonprofit Homes for Iowa contracts with inmates to build affordable housing through a program called Iowa Prison Industries. Each home is built by between 30 and 75 inmates who are paid a stipend. Ed Malloy, executive director of Grow Fairfield, says it’s a cheaper way of creating affordable housing that the city needs.

“We think we have a good home, a nice-looking home, nice neighborhoods,” Malloy says. “We believe this will be a successful program for us, and we look to repeat it.” The first home was built at the Newton Correctional Facility and transported over 95 miles to its foundation in Fairfield. The next home is expected to be moved in late June. Malloy, a former Fairfield mayor, says the purchases are one way the city is tackling its affordable housing shortage.

“The opportunity for the inmates to participate in a program like this creates a real purpose and sense of pride that you could feel while visiting and seeing people working and putting the homes together,” he says. The homes will be available to buyers making less than 80 percent of the area’s median income.