DES MOINES, Iowa — The recently opened Beacon Village acts as both an affordable housing option and a place for women in crises to heal.
The facility located at the old Village Inn Motel off of East Euclid Avenue and East 14th Street in Des Moines has 32 units and is a place designed specifically for women who struggled with addiction and formerly incarcerated women. In order to live there, residents must be employed, single without kids and at least six months sober.
Alexandria Atal, a case manager, said the village is an extension of The Beacon’s Sherman Hill program, which has been around since the 1990s. It's a five-step program where women battling addiction stay to receive around-the-clock care to achieve sobriety.
“Something that we noticed with our graduates of our program at Sherman Hill was that when they were getting ready to leave our program, there wasn’t an affordable option for them,” Atal said.
The old motel rooms are now apartments that range in price from $575 to $750 a month. That’s lower than the average price of a studio in Des Moines, which is $825, according to Apartments.com.
“We have a space where people not only have housing, but they have quality, safe housing where they don’t really have to worry,” Atal said.
Women who live at the Village are required to attend regular meetings where they learn about saving and budgeting.
“A lot of them haven’t had a lease before, they don’t know how to read everything before they sign it,” Atal said.
Women can stay there for a year or forever in a safe environment close to professionals trained to help them heal.
“You know your story’s not over, no matter how many times you fall, there’s no limit on getting back up again,” Atal added.
The plan is to eventually tear down a neighboring building onsite. Another building will go up in its place to create even more apartments for women in need.