DES MOINES, Iowa — Central Iowa Shelter & Services saw their busiest year to date in 2023. Now, they are finding new ways to continue to serve the community as need increases.
"Essentially every winter time, our numbers increase," said Tommy Ross, director of community engagement at CISS. "That being stated, our numbers have significantly increased and spiked this year. We saw our largest numbers ever in the building just a few weeks ago."
CISS is already at their full capacity of 150 beds, including their overflow, and now they are working to expand their efforts to rural Iowa.
The shelter has already served about 3,000 people across the state this year, and their decision for expansion was an easy one.
"The data spoke for itself and the high volume of people that were really coming to us from Poweshiek County and from Mahaska County, Wapello County," said Melissa O'Neil, CEO of CISS. "We started to look at the community specifically: their vacancy rates, but the amount of time and resources the community was putting into ending homelessness, especially hidden homelessness, in their own community."
The Central Iowa shelter location feeds 300 people a day and also offers intakes when people come to the shelter.
"Each intake is very different, but we try to address the main needs of not only getting them entitlements and jobs and their housing plan, but making sure the first step is taken towards figuring out what their goals are," said Dee Henriquez, director of street outreach and advocacy at CISS.
Recently, the shelter has seen an increase in young adults ages 18-24 coming to the shelter. Employees at CISS believe this phenomenon is due to a lack of affordable housing.
"I think we've recognized, especially coming out of the pandemic, that we have a lot of people who want to stay in their hometowns," O'Neil said. "They have a social network and family network that's already established there. And if we can do a better job of serving people in their hometowns, then they are less likely to come to our urban core and receive those same services."
CISS plans to have their shelter locations in rural Iowa open during extreme weather events.
The expected timeline of completion for those rural shelters is 2024, with full services by 2025.