DES MOINES, Iowa — The Des Moines City Council is looking to approve a few items on Monday that will address homelessness in the city. 

One of those would be a new agreement with Central Iowa Shelter and Services that would provide funding upfront. CISS would receive a $300,000 cash reserve fund. This would help CISS have more financial security as they plan and assist people experiencing homelessness. 

In this proposed agreement, the city would also provide and pay for police officers to be at CISS. Currently, CISS pays for off-duty officers. 

CISS will also add 21 more spaces to their already 150 congregate spaces, which are like big dorm rooms with bunk beds. They’ll also add four new non-congregated spaces. These will be more private spaces designed for couples or people with pets. 

A huge part of this deal is that CISS will add additional spaces as needed and possible, and the city will pay for it.

“I think the cap discussion hurt many aspects of our safety net and rethinking that is a really positive development for the community,” Des Moines City Councilman Chris Coleman said.

“I think what this does is it really, going forward, encourages people to say, we want to provide support and help to get people off the streets and help people get into stable housing,” CISS CEO Melissa O’Neil said.

Another thing they hope to be approved on Monday is in regards to the city ordinance that prohibits people to set up camp on public property. The City Council is looking to take out language which says someone’s defense to camping on public property cannot be that there are no shelters available. 

“That language was a stumbling block, not a solution,” Coleman said. ”We had to kind of admit to ourselves, we can do this better than we thought a year ago, and we’re going to keep improving it.”

The camping ordinance was passed in Sept. 2024 and implemented in Feb. 2025. 

The city has also worked with JOPPA to plan to build a tiny home village on the Chesterfield School property. Des Moines City Council hopes to approve the lease agreement for that as well on Monday.