Two former hotels in the Des Moines metro are being converted to housing campuses with essential services to support people experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
The vacant hotels are located in West Des Moines and Urbandale. Once completed, Solstice in Urbandale is expected to have 104 studio apartments and Starling in West Des Moines will have 89 units.
The projects are being led by a new nonprofit, Greater Des Moines Supportive Housing. CEO Emily Osweiler said the nonprofit spent nearly five years searching for the right sites. She said the organization had to consider if there were resources and jobs nearby, among other factors.
“We wanted it to be in Polk County; we wanted it to be near or on a bus line or bus access; we wanted it to be big enough for what we’re talking about — 100-ish studio apartments, plus the 'heart spaces,'” Osweiler said.
Osweiler said heart spaces are an important aspect of the sites because they provide community spaces with supportive services in addition to the affordable units.
“So, things like case manager offices, adult classrooms, a media center, a big living room space like you would have in your home,” she said.
The heart spaces at each campus will also provide counseling sessions, life skills training and a food pantry stocked with essential items.
Osweiler saw a need for more access to permanent housing options in the area that support people after they’ve found shelter. She referenced a study that Polk County conducted in 2023, called the Polk County Gap Analysis. It analyzed the county’s homelessness system and the lack of resources that prevent and divert people from the system.
“What they found was that we, as a community, are not doing enough prevention and diversion, and we don’t have enough affordable and supportive housing inventory,” Osweiler said.
She said these projects target both issues. They provide permanent affordable housing and support in one place, which allows them to help someone before they enter the homelessness system or someone that can’t get out.
The Polk County study outlined gaps in services that reduce and keep up with the homeless population, like prevention, diversion and rehousing.
“People end up hitting the emergency homeless system, so maybe they’re in shelters or outside, and there’s just not enough of an option of an inventory for people to go to, so you get stuck there,” Osweiler said. “So our community has great providers in that space, but if there’s not enough places for people to go to get out then you’re just kind of waiting for things to open up.”
The study, which is the most recent gap analysis available for Polk County, showed that nearly 500 more units of supportive housing were needed in 2023 to keep pace with the number of people anticipated to enter the system.
Osweiler said these new projects will provide nearly 200 units combined, which are designed to be a low-barrier option for people with little to no income. Greater Des Moines Supportive Housing will check that an applicant’s income is low enough and that they don’t have any violent felony convictions on their record, she said.
“We also want to be low barrier, so we’re not looking at misdemeanors, we’re not looking at charges,” Osweiler said. “We’re not looking at credit, we’re not going to call past apartments and ask if they’ve been evicted. We’re a clean slate.”
She said the goal is to meet people where they’re at, whether they need to find long-term stability or enough stability to transition somewhere else.
Residents will apply, sign a lease and pay rent like a residential apartment. They will start with a base rent that's adjusted based on their income and also receive rental assistance if they use the support services.
Renovations have begun, and Osweiler said the nonprofit is expecting to start welcoming residents in late 2027.
