\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Des Moines City Council on Monday night passed the first reading to clarify its prohibited camping and sleeping ordinance.The city is considering eliminating a section of the ordinance to add clarity around enforcement and service connections.The city is also talking about a new partnership with CISS, Central Iowa Shelter and Services. The agreement is meant to reinforce the process and expand help for people living outdoors.City Councilor Chris Coleman said the focus is on improving understanding and access to services.\u201cGood people recognize that a problem had to be solved, and we came together and solved it,\u201d he said. Under the agreement, the city will provide a one-time $300,000 cash reserve for shelter operations and assign Des Moines police officers to work at CISS. The shelter will add both congregate and non-congregate rooms \u2014 including single, lockable spaces \u2014 and expand as needed, with the city covering additional costs. \u201cThis is a mission-critical moment for us,\u201d said Melissa O\u2019Neil, CEO of CISS, who called the plan a \u201cgame changer\u201d that has been in the works for some time. She said the agreement responds to the Polk County strategic plan to end homelessness and \u201cserves a critical gap\u201d for people who are unsheltered.Both O\u2019Neil and Coleman said the goal is to help people pursue safer, healthier and more dignified lives. \u201cThis is a big win for us as a community, and a big win for the vulnerable in our community,\u201d Coleman said, adding that non-congregate, private rooms are essential to stabilizing people on the path to housing.\u00bb Subscribe to KCCI’s YouTube page\u00bb Download the free KCCI app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tDES MOINES, Iowa \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Des Moines City Council on Monday night passed the first reading to clarify its prohibited camping and sleeping ordinance.<\/p>\n
The city is considering eliminating a section of the ordinance to add clarity around enforcement and service connections.<\/p>\n
The city is also talking about a new partnership with CISS, Central Iowa Shelter and Services. The agreement is meant to reinforce the process and expand help for people living outdoors.<\/p>\n
City Councilor Chris Coleman said the focus is on improving understanding and access to services.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood people recognize that a problem had to be solved, and we came together and solved it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Under the agreement, the city will provide a one-time $300,000 cash reserve for shelter operations and assign Des Moines police officers to work at CISS. <\/p>\n
The shelter will add both congregate and non-congregate rooms \u2014 including single, lockable spaces \u2014 and expand as needed, with the city covering additional costs. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a mission-critical moment for us,\u201d said Melissa O\u2019Neil, CEO of CISS, who called the plan a \u201cgame changer\u201d that has been in the works for some time. <\/p>\n
She said the agreement responds to the Polk County strategic plan to end homelessness and \u201cserves a critical gap\u201d for people who are unsheltered.<\/p>\n
Both O\u2019Neil and Coleman said the goal is to help people pursue safer, healthier and more dignified lives. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a big win for us as a community, and a big win for the vulnerable in our community,\u201d Coleman said, adding that non-congregate, private rooms are essential to stabilizing people on the path to housing.<\/p>\n
\u00bb Subscribe to KCCI’s YouTube page<\/a><\/p>\n \u00bb Download the free KCCI app to get updates on the go: Apple<\/a> | Google Play<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Des Moines City Council on Monday night passed the first reading to clarify its prohibited camping and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[15647,2090,23715,23709,23717,23707,525,23706,79,990,14909,524,23708,7605,23710,17774,10620,23714,23711,2696,523,1385,128,130,129,20369,23713,23716,394,23712],"class_list":["post-39059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-agreement","tag-big-win","tag-camping-ordinance-change","tag-capacity","tag-central-iowa-shelter","tag-central-iowa-shelter-and-services","tag-change","tag-ciss","tag-city","tag-city-council","tag-coleman","tag-community","tag-des-moines","tag-first-reading","tag-hlomelessness","tag-increase","tag-language","tag-melissa-oneil","tag-one-time","tag-ordinance","tag-people","tag-police-officers","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-reserve","tag-service-connection","tag-shelter-operation","tag-unhoused","tag-unsheltered"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}