Neighbors rally against plans for group home for men on Des Moines' south side

A Christian nonprofit is seeking to convert a former children's group home on Des Moines' south side into affordable housing for recently homeless men, but neighbors won't be rolling out a welcome mat.

Hope Ministries, which provides food and shelter to homeless Iowans, is proposing to reuse one of the Orchard Place child mental health service's former residential facilities, shuttered in 2015 after the state cut funding for the organization.

The 14-bedroom home would become 12 temporary housing units to aid men transitioning to permanent homes. Tenants could live there for up to two years.

Though the facility is on Kenyon Avenue, which borders the fenced Orchard campus at Kenyon and Southwest Ninth Street, it's several blocks from the rest of the campus and surrounded by a neighborhood of single-family homes.

Previously: 'I don’t need them in my backyard': Neighbors push back against group home in Beaverdale

The city's Plan and Zoning Commission greenlit the project Thursday night with a 12-1 vote, but not before hearing from a crowd of residents who unanimously opposed the project. They mentioned the proximity of the property to Wright Elementary School and the Kurtz Opportunity Center, and expressed concern for the safety of children who may pass by it to get to the nearby South Side Library and Nahas Aquatic Center.

Citing Hope Ministries, neighbor Audrene Hansen told the board, "I think what they do is great, but not in my neighborhood. I'm 80 years old. What do I do if one of these men come (into my home)?"

"Even when it was Orchard Place, we had a problem with teenagers. I can't imagine adult men," said Jerry Bradley, a member of the Watrous South Neighborhood Association.

Hope Ministries Director of Development Kathy Coady told the Des Moines Register that the project would be unlike the group's other three other residential facilities in Des Moines, giving its residents a chance to live on their own instead of returning to homelessness.

Still, residents have asked Hope Ministries to put its affordable units in a more commercialized area with apartment buildings. Neighbor Rick Hoffman told the board that Hope Ministries' Door of Faith facility, a little more than a mile away at 6701 S.W. Ninth St., near Blank Park Zoo and apartment communities, is in much different environment.

"I don't even know how to say it. It's not one of the best areas. It's really not. We don't want our (neighborhood) to turn into that," Hoffman said.

He added that some of the tenants at the 1301 Kenyon Ave. home would have gone through rehabilitation and could be at risk of relapsing. Hope Ministries hadn't been clear with the neighbors about whether the men would be drug tested, he said.

"The rate of recidivism for alcohol is 52%, and a lot of these people are alcoholics," he said.

Would the building be a homeless shelter?

Leon Negen, CEO of Hope Ministries, clarified that the group home wouldn't be a closely monitored facility. Tenants would be required to have a job and pay rent. One of the residents would serve as a house manager, monitoring building and property maintenance and addressing any concerns with the other residents.

The building essentially would be an affordable housing project with Hope Ministries controlling who applies and lives there.

"This is a landlord situation," Negen said.

All tenants will have graduated from one of Hope Ministries' "life recovery" programs and potential residents will be screened and evaluated individually, Negen said. He added that sex offenders who have committed a crime against a minor wouldn't qualify to live there due to its proximity to schools.

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"This is our track record. We haven't had, ever, one person who has been charged with any crime against any neighbor in our 20-year history," he said, pointing to the Doors of Faith property.

Negen said he anticipates the new home on Kenyon will have a waitlist.

One board member voted against the facility, saying he thinks the site is inappropriate. And another member, Chris Draper, said he lives within a block of group homes and has experienced an incident that wasn't correctly handled by the service provider.

But Draper said he's also had neighbors who caused disturbances and weren't in the facilities.

"I don't think singling individuals out and saying, 'This isn't the right place for it,' is ever going to land us in a place where there is a 'right place' for it,'" he said. "Evidence shows that these programs are helpful for the neighborhood and helpful for the residents, and it doesn't sound like there's a reason we would deny this if it was a normal case."

What's included in the plans?

According to plans Hope Ministries submitted to the city, each of the residents on Kenyon would have his own room and share a bathroom with another man. All other areas — the kitchen, dining room, living room, and recreation/game room — would be shared by all residents.

The property is bordered by rows of trees to the east, north and west, adding a level of privacy. It also has a basketball court, gazebo and space for a shared garden, a listing for the property shows.

Some neighborhood residents told the board that the area couldn't support parking for 12 more residents. Negen responded that the facility already has a dedicated parking area with room for six vehicles, as required under Des Moines' zoning regulations. He said Hope Ministries will monitor who has a vehicle and who doesn't, as well as who uses public transportation.

Based on his experience, he said, he believes six parking spots for recently homeless residents would be more than enough.

Why can't the property be something else?

The city of Des Moines will currently allow up to eight multi-family units on the parcel. If Hope Ministries had renovated the property into eight apartments, it wouldn't have had to apply to the city to rezone the property from low density housing to low-medium density.

City staff added that the lot is a large corner parcel, making it less conducive to redevelopment as single-family homes.

Despite the board's vote of approval, Hope Ministries still will need to appear before the city's Zoning Board of Adjustment before it seeks City Council's OK.

Addison Lathers covers growth and development for the Des Moines metro. Reach her at 608-931-1761 or [email protected], and follow her on X at @addisonlathers.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Hope Ministries gets pushback from neighbors on south side group home