In Des Moines, Iowa, a new tiny home village has been approved for an innovative new housing scheme.
It’s called Joppa Village, and it will include tiny cottage homes, where rent starts at $300 a month. Each home comes with a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette, and an abandoned 19th-century schoolhouse will be at the center of it all, serving as a community hub with a chapel, gym, and free health services.
It’s all designed to lift people out of homelessness.
Joppa is a Des Moines-based homeless nonprofit and cleared its first approval hurdle in the fall of 2025 for the tiny house project. And last month, the Des Moines Zoning Board of Adjustment unanimously approved a conditional-use permit, which will allow the nonprofit to use the 15,000-square-foot former school building, as well.
“Every dollar raised to purchase the previously proposed County Line Road property will be fully reinvested into this new site,” Jim Hagberg, Joppa Village Project Director and Joppa Board Member, said in a statement.
“This support from the City of Des Moines is essential for the Village and its residents to be successful, and we are eager to move forward.”
A rendering of the future Joppa Village. Photo courtesy of Joppa
A statement from Joppa shared that this new village is a proud replication of the Community First! Village in Austin, Texas, which has become home to nearly 400 formerly homeless community members and launched a blueprint for tiny home solutions across the country.
While Joppa Village will be a smaller version of the Austin inspiration, it promises to provide permanent homes to 50 men and women “who would otherwise be chronically homeless.”
The village’s supportive services will include work opportunities, access to public transportation, healthcare, communal dining, and more. Rent starts at $300 monthly but goes up to $700, depending on which cottage home a resident lives in. The homes range from 192 to 384 square feet in size.
The city council’s resolution will provide a 20-year lease for the village on the property. However, that lease could be void if Joppa does not keep up with performance standards like emergency service volume call, infrastructure condition, tenant turnover, neighborhood feedback, health safety concerns, or city codes and financial transparency, according to WHO 13 News.
But that doesn’t seem to be a deterrent for Joppa leaders, who have been eager to get this project off the ground for a while.
The former Chesterfield School will be transformed into a community hub. Photo courtesy of Des Moines Heritage Trust
“We have been working with the City of Des Moines for years to develop a community that will provide permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless individuals,” a spokesperson for the organization told WHO 13 News.
“While some project details have evolved over time, our vision for the Joppa Village has remained the same: Create a village community of unconditional love and support for our chronically homeless neighbors and help them rediscover hope, so they can once again become productive citizens and live a life of meaning.”
Joppa aims to break ground on the Tiny Village this year, with the first residents potentially moving in 2027, Axios reported.
To qualify for move-in, potential residents need to meet federal criteria for chronic homelessness. This criteria includes having a disability or substance use disorder, experiencing at least a year of continuous homelessness, or cycling through three or more separate homeless cycles within the last three years.
An example of a cottage that may be found in the Joppa Village. Photo courtesy of Joppa
Those residents will not be required to have an income to move in, as the village will offer on-site employment opportunities, like $15/hour groundskeeping, gardening, and janitorial work.
Calling it “a proven model,” Joppa leaders made a compelling case to city officials.
“Improving lives for people experiencing homelessness in our community is an effort that requires collaboration from partners who are invested in finding solutions,” Joe Gatto, Des Moines city council member, said in a statement.
“People living in our community deserve safety and shelter, and projects like the Joppa Village will help our residents experiencing homelessness start on the path to a better future.”
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Header image courtesy of Joppa
