LOCAL
RETHINKING HOUSING BARRIERS Before the pandemic, Des Moines faced issues in housing insecurity. COVID-19 has only made it worse. WORDS BY TAYLOR FISHER | ILLUSTRATION BY AMANDA O’BRIEN
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fter spending so much time in homes this past year, places of residence have become more important and meaningful than ever before. For many people, the home has transformed into a safe place where every aspect of life intersects. For some residents of the Des Moines area, the idea of the home doesn’t provide the same safety it does for others due to housing insecurity. While the coronavirus pandemic has exaggerated the need for affordable housing in Des Moines and the surrounding area, it has also highlighted that the barriers to stable housing aren’t just limited to cost. While it’s impossible to obtain an exact number of people facing housing insecurity or homelessness in Des Moines, Polk County Continuum of Care, responsible for allocating federal funding to community partners, attempts to gain an understanding of what the landscape of homelessness looks like in the city. One of the most important methods in collecting this information is through a biannual point-in-time count of unsheltered community members. “Over a 24-hour period in January of 2021, 118 unsheltered were counted,” said Polk County Continuum of Care Executive Director Angie Arthur. In addition, Arthur explains that a better understanding of the homelessness landscape can be seen through the number of neighbors served. “Through community partnerships in 2020, 4,378 individuals received services,” Arthur said. As these numbers depict, there is a vast and diverse need for resources related to housing and homelessness in the Des Moines area that has surpassed the amount of resources and funding
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available. In response to this need, community partners have developed a system of centralized intake, a prioritization program designed to provide resources to the most vulnerable. “Centralized intake was established about five years ago and serves the most vulnerable through a vulnerability index,” Arthur said. “There are not enough resources to provide all levels of support to everyone.” Through communication and partnerships among organizations, the centralized intake system allows funding and resources related to housing and homelessness to reach more people. While this system has been vital for Des Moines homelessness, there still aren’t enough resources to address the large number of Des Moines residents who face housing insecurity. In addition, a variety of barriers can be detrimental for those seeking housing without resources. Bernadette Beck, homeless support service program manager at Primary Healthcare, outlines the common barriers to housing as relating to many social issues. “As far as general barriers to housing, prior history of eviction, criminal history, mental illness, and substance abuse stacks on top of many’s struggle to obtain housing,” Beck said. The coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated these barriers, unfortunately. In terms of mental illness, shifts to telehealth during the pandemic can be very inaccessible. “Our population doesn’t utilize telehealth in the same ways others would, due to lack of a smartphone or Wi-Fi, for example,” said Cynthia Latcham, executive director for Anawim housing—a Des Moines nonprofit that provides permanent supportive housing. “Mental health services are important to our population with severe
