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Tiny village solution to homelessness in Des Moines will go before city council

Two men holding fuel for winter heaters are walking through the snow.
Joppa
/
Iowa Public Radio
Joppa is a nonprofit that provides services and resources for those experiencing homelessness, such as heat during the winter.

A Des Moines nonprofit is trying for a second time to win approval to build a tiny home village to provide permanent affordable housing for people who are homeless.

Joppa is pitching the project as a potential solution to chronic homelessness in the city.

Joppa’s reapplication comes as Des Moines faces record numbers of people experiencing homelessness. With the city preparing to enforce a camping ban, a city memo notes the tiny village’s viability as permanent affordable housing.

“There's just nowhere for people to go,” Joppa CEO Joe Stevens said. “So what the city really needs, instead of transitional housing, is they need permanent housing that people can actually afford.”

Joppa bought 21 acres near the Des Moines airport last year. The organization resubmitted a zoning application to the city council to begin developing the land.

A bird's-eye view of an empty field with trees and bushes surrounding it.
Joppa
/
Iowa Public Radio
Joppa purchased 21 acres of land near the Des Moines airport to develop into a tiny village.

Stevens said the project will be fully funded by independent donors, with no cost to taxpayers. Joppa does not intend to use city funds.

According to the Des Moines Register, some of Joppa’s major contributors include Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Wells Fargo and its foundation, Hy-Vee, Whole Foods, Fresh Thyme, Trader Joe's, Lutheran Church of Hope and other area churches. Joppa’s website states that they have over 100 partners supporting the tiny village project.

What is a tiny village?

Since 2019, the number of tiny villages across the country has nearly quadrupled — from 34 to 124, according to The New York Times.

Joppa’s tiny village is an official replica of the Community First! village in Austin, Texas. In Austin, the village has community vegetable gardens, chicken coops, art studios, a medical clinic and more. In the next few years, they expect to expand to almost 2,000 homes.

Joppa’s village would add 50 permanent homes for those unable to afford rent on their own. Each home is between 185 to 385 square feet, which is about the size of an average camper. They come equipped with a kitchenette and bathroom.

"It's a model where people pay rent, they have pride of ownership, they help take care of the village and help take care of each other and lift each other up."
Joppa CEO Joe Stevens

Joppa’s village will follow Community First’s example in having volunteers, called “missionals,” guide those who were unhoused in settling into the village. Missionals “guard against the pitfalls of concentrated poverty and trauma,” wrote The Times.

Each resident — a “neighbor” — works a job on or off site to pay for rent at a subsidized price. In Community First, rent averages $385 a month and the organization makes up the rest of the cost.

“It's a model where people pay rent, they have pride of ownership, they help take care of the village and help take care of each other and lift each other up,” Stevens said. “It's just a wonderful model of community and wraparound services that make it all work.”

Why did Joppa need to submit their application again?

In 2021, Stevens withdrew Joppa’s first rezoning application amid concerns of financial liability, insufficient training and an unbalanced organizational structure.

“I don't have any question that a tiny home village can work and can be a piece of the solution to homelessness in this community,” Councilmember Josh Mandelbaum said. “But what I still struggle with is, I've not seen evidence from Joppa that they have the staff expertise or the resources to provide the wraparound services necessary to make a village successful.”

"I've not seen evidence from Joppa that they have the staff expertise or the resources to provide the wraparound services necessary to make a village successful."
Des Moines City Councilmember Josh Mandelbaum

Only one full-time employee remained after a mass exodus of Joppa staff in 2021.

Stevens said that the financial problems brought up in 2021 have been addressed.

“The facts don't sometimes always matter as much as the perceptions and the optics,” Stevens said. “It's hard to defend your integrity, and the only thing you can do is try to have all the protections in place up front and just be an organization that is bulletproof as much as you can be.”

Another concern about the tiny village was transportation. Without a bus line or sidewalks, the property would not be easily accessible. Stevens said he collaborated with DART to purchase one 12-passenger van that would be available on-call for residents.

The state of homelessness in Des Moines

The main homeless shelter in downtown Des Moines, Central Iowa Shelter & Services (CISS), currently has 150 emergency shelter beds, but shelters 190 people every night through overflow. Without enough beds, people must sleep in chairs or on mats.

Polk County will consider tripling its budget for providing temporary hotel stays in response to record numbers of families seeking assistance. At least 750 people are on Primary Health Care’s (PHC) waiting list for housing.

Federal COVID-19 relief money is expected to run out at the end of 2026. Without a replacement for that funding, PHC said it would need to shut down its rapid rehousing program.

An alternative form of rapid housing would be pallet shelters. However, the city’s December 2023 memo states that these shelters would incur significant costs. The initial purchase cost — $18,000 for each unit — does not include costs like utilities, operations or buying the land.

Lucia Cheng is IPR's 2024 — 2025 News Fellow. Cheng has experience reporting, producing and photographing stories from the Des Moines metro area. She's reported on food insecurity, homelessness and business and economy news, as well as COVID-19, Title IX issues and features for IPR and other news publications. Cheng has a bachelors degree from Grinnell College.