A designated village for unsheltered people can only work if Des Moines can find partnering service providers to manage it — and fast, City Manager Scott Sanders said Monday night at a city council meeting.
“We have about a month to determine if we’re going to be able to find the partners that we’re going to need to operate this site or even alternative sites identified,” Sanders said of council’s proposal for the east side intended for temporary living. “We do need the service providers out there that we’ve been talking to, and possibly others, to step forward and talk with us about resources, and ability, and interest to some fashion.”
City officials voted unanimously after a public hearing to approve an application seeking federal funding for the project entailing 43 individual shelters built at 2501 Maury St. south of East Martin Luther King Drive. They held the hearing looking for approval of an application to the Iowa Economic Development Authority for a $2 million community development block grant funded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act.
City Councilman Chris Coleman said the village is among the “strategies” to combat homelessness — one council voted on last year, with the camping ban. The ordinance, deemed a “harder line approach” by officials, imposes a $15 fine for people caught sleeping in public places such as sidewalks, alleys or driveways. They also have three days instead of 10 to collect their belongings and leave homeless encampments facing sweeps.
A public notice of the plans stated the city would buy units manufactured by Pallet, a for-profit public benefit corporation in Everett, Washington. The box-like structures are made of fiberglass and secured to the ground but movable if needed. They are expected to last at least 20 years.
Pallet has shelters in 29 states and 119 cities, including Denver, Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida. The homes can be built quickly and cheaply, and also have been used as housing for those displaced by disasters like Hurricanes Helene and Milton, ABC News reported.
Des Moines’ village would be one of the few in the Midwest. Madison, Wisconsin, set up 30 shelters in 2022 and has since expanded to two different sites.
“Pallet shelters are designed to offer temporary shelter, that provides supportive services to help people move toward permanent housing,” Amber Lewis, the city’s homelessness policy administrator, previously told the Des Moines Register. “At this time there is no one-size-fits-all limit proposed to the number of days these shelters can be utilized.”
Des Moines’ project would be made up of family units with three people per unit and a separate wing for 18 single people serving “special populations including older adults and LGBTQ adults,” the public notice says. In total, the village would accommodate about 100 people.
Max Morowitz, executive director of One Iowa, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said they were concerned about the intake process and plans to offer homeless LGBTQ+ adults “separate” housing. Accommodations like those could lead to targeted attacks against them or make them susceptible to discrimination, said Morowitz, who invited the council for further conversation.
“As we know, separating people of marginalized identities is quite a fraught way to approach a housing crisis like this, but we recognize that this is a way that you all are trying to do things in the community,” they said.
City Councilman Josh Mandelbaum was among the officials who spoke positively about the project and the challenges that lie ahead, including figuring out how much money is needed annually to run the village.
“We would still have to figure out the social service and annual operating budget that goes along with that,” Mandelbaum said. “I think that’s work that is worth doing, and if we get these dollars, I hope that we will continue to pursue that solution, because I think solutions like this can be positive, and if done right, would be a piece of what we need.”
City Councilman Joe Gatto, who represents Ward 4, said the Pallet homes, which would be built in the neighborhood he oversees, are a “good alternative.”
“I’m happy to second the motion,” Gatto said.
Staff reporter Addison Lathers contributed to this story.
F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her at ftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on Twitter @writefelissa.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines City Council to seek federal funding for homeless village