Our Campuses
Our campuses
Two campuses. Nearly 200 homes.
Greater Des Moines Supportive Housing is converting two former extended-stay hotels into permanent supportive housing. Each home is a furnished apartment with a door that locks and a key that belongs to the person inside it, paired with the on-site support that makes staying possible.
There is no time limit. Residents are not working toward a discharge date. They are home.
Where
A regional approach, on two campuses.
Homelessness in Greater Des Moines does not stop at a city limit, so neither does the response. Two campuses, operated as one program.
Solstice Campus
104 studio apartments
3940 114th Street
Urbandale, Iowa
Starling Campus
89 studio apartments
2701 Westown Parkway
West Des Moines, Iowa
Why hotel conversion
Building on what is already standing.
Both campuses began as extended-stay hotels. The building type is already close to what supportive housing needs: private rooms, private baths, shared community space, and a single secure entrance.
Sustainable development
Reusing existing structures rather than building new.
Lower environmental impact
Far less demolition, material, and site disturbance than new construction.
A faster path to move-in
An efficient construction timeline, which means residents come home sooner.
Heart spaces
The rooms that make it a community.
An apartment ends homelessness. The rooms around it are what make somewhere worth staying. Both campuses are designed around shared space that residents own together.
- Commercial kitchen
- Community room
- Media room
- Classrooms
- Food and clothing pantries
- Outdoor respite space
In each home
What a resident walks into.
Every apartment is a fully furnished studio with its own kitchenette and bathroom. Residents do not arrive to an empty room and a list of things they still need to find.
On-site support is part of the building, not a referral somewhere else: case management, counseling, and life skills training. Both campuses have controlled access and staff on site twenty-four hours a day.
- Furnished studio apartment
- Private kitchenette and bathroom
- Case management
- Counseling
- Life skills training
- Food pantry and commercial kitchen
- Controlled access, staffed 24 hours
What happens next
From closing to keys.
Fall 2026
Renovation begins on both campuses.
Late 2027
The first residents are welcomed home.
$29 million
Combined project cost, funded through a mix of private and public sources.
We believe in grace. There are no throwaway people.
Questions about Starling and Solstice are welcome. Reach us at emilyosweiler@gdmsh.org.