DES MOINES, Iowa — The Polk County Board of Supervisors is acquiring nine unused lots from the city of Des Moines with two goals in mind: expand affordable housing options and address homelessness.
Residents have been calling on city leaders to invest in the expansion of housing resources. Those calls intensified one week ago, when the Des Moines City Council approved an ordinance that bans camping in public spaces.
"There is a need for affordable housing. I think that's been consistent through the years," said Chris Johansen, Des Moines' Neighborhood Services Director. "That was a lot of the background of the discussion around the passing of the ordinance."
Federal funding will be used to build single-family homes on each of the nine lots. For every 100 extremely low-income renter households in Polk County, only 23 homes are affordable and available, per the Polk County Housing Trust Fund.
Johansen says his department hopes to assist the county in meeting the growing need.
"There isn't a necessary target number that we're trying to hit in each neighborhood," he said. "But I think trying to provide these housing opportunities all throughout the city of Des Moines is good for our neighborhoods to be able to access those, those available housing units."