Capital Campaign
Be part of the reason someone gets their own place to call home.
Greater Des Moines Supportive Housing has a capital campaign underway to open two supportive housing campuses in the metro. This page explains what the campaign builds, where it stands, and how to start a conversation with us.
What we are building
Two campuses. One answer that works.
Permanent supportive housing is not an experiment. It pairs a home of one’s own with the services that help a person keep it, and it is the model the Blueprint to Reduce Homelessness in Polk County puts at the center of the region’s plan.
Greater Des Moines Supportive Housing is converting two metro hotels into the Solstice Campus and the Starling Campus: 193 apartments in total, each one a private home with a door that locks, and on-site space for the case management, health services, and community life that make housing hold.
The combined project cost is $29 million. The capital campaign is how the private share of that gets raised, and it is underway now.
$29M
Combined project cost
193
Apartments across two campuses
2
Campuses: Solstice and Starling
2027
First residents welcomed
Where the money goes
Four things a gift builds.
The campaign is funded through a combination of private and public sources. Private giving is what closes the gap between what public financing covers and what a campus actually needs to open.
The buildings
Acquisition and renovation of two hotels into 193 permanent apartments, each with a kitchen, a bathroom, and a door of its own.
The support space
On-site rooms for case management, health partners, and the day to day work that keeps a person housed after move-in day.
The furnishings
A bed, a table, a chair, and a set of dishes in every apartment, so a resident walks into a home rather than an empty room.
The first years
Operating strength through the opening period, when both campuses are filling and services are being built out at the same time.
Where things stand
The campaign timeline
August 2026
Properties secured
Both hotels acquired and announced, with the campuses named Solstice and Starling.
Now
Capital Campaign
The campaign cabinet is connecting donors with opportunities to make philanthropic investments in the project.
Fall 2026
Renovation begins
Construction starts at both campuses, converting hotel rooms into permanent apartments.
Late 2027
Residents welcomed
The first residents move in, and the campuses begin doing what they were built to do.
Leadership
Campaign Cabinet
Honorary Chairs
- Tom & Linda KoehnThomas & Linda Koehn FoundationWaldinger Corporation, retired
Campaign Chairs
- Steve LacyDotdash Meredith, retired
- Bob RileyRiley Resource Group
Cabinet Members
- Jim BealEcho Alpha, LLC
- Annie BrandtBank of America
- Brooke CookCommunity Impact Advisor
- Greg EdwardsCatch Des Moines, retired
- Dan KeoughHolmes Murphy & Associates, LLC
- Cory McAnellyPrincipal Financial Group
- Beth NigutEMC Insurance
Advocate Circle
A group of community leaders and organizations lending their name and their voice to Starling and Solstice, and helping us tell this story in rooms we might not otherwise reach.
- Joyce Chapman
- Chris Coleman
- Susan Hatten
- Scott Jean
- Kathryn Kunert
- Mike McCoy
- Ben McLean
- Doug Romig
- Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines
- Homeward
- Housing Solutions Alliance Board
- United Way of Central Iowa