Primary Health Care (PHC) is proud to help lead a new countywide effort to reduce and eventually end homelessness in our community.
On May 6, 2025, Homeward Iowa and local partners released the Blueprint to Address Homelessness in Polk County (2025–2029) — a five-year plan that brings together housing, health, and human-service organizations to make homelessness in Polk County rare, brief, and nonrecurring.
The plan was developed with support from the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, City of Des Moines, and Polk County, along with dozens of community partners, funders, and people with lived experience of homelessness.
What the Blueprint does
The Blueprint outlines seven focus areas to improve how our community prevents and responds to homelessness. These areas include expanding emergency shelter capacity, connecting people to affordable housing, improving data systems, and strengthening partnerships between health, housing, and social services.
PHC is a lead agency in several strategies:
- Community Resource Inventory: PHC will build and maintain a shared, up-to-date directory of housing, shelter, and crisis resources that helps individuals, families, and providers connect to the help they need faster.
- Emergency Shelter Waitlist Targeting: PHC will use data from its Centralized Intake program to identify households on shelter waitlists and connect them with rental or support services before they lose housing.
- Cross-system collaboration: PHC will work closely with hospitals, behavioral health providers, and workforce programs to help clients stay housed and healthy.
Why it matters
On any given night, more than 700 people in Polk County experience homelessness — and that number has grown in the past year. For many, housing instability is tied to health needs, income loss, or lack of access to affordable care.
“Ending homelessness takes all of us working together — health care, housing, and human services,” said Shelby Ridley, PHC’s Homeless Support Program Director. “This plan strengthens our shared response and helps more Iowans find stability, dignity, and a place to call home.”
By taking part in the Blueprint, PHC is helping bridge the gap between health and housing — ensuring people have not only medical care, but a safe place to live and recover.
What’s next
Implementation of the Blueprint is already underway. A new Housing Solutions Alliance will coordinate partners and track progress across Polk County.
PHC will continue working with Homeward and other local organizations to launch new programs, collect data, and share results. Updates will be posted as progress is made.
Learn more
You can read more about the Blueprint at homewardiowa.org.
For news coverage of the announcement, visit our PHC in the Media page or explore these stories: