New domestic violence shelter being built in Iowa City

New facility will have ‘family pods’ to provide more privacy

This rendering shows the new emergency shelter being built for survivors of domestic violence by the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, a nonprofit based in Johnson County. Ground was broken for the new facility Thursday in Iowa City. (Submitted)

IOWA CITY — Ground was broken Thursday for a new emergency shelter for the survivors of domestic violence in Johnson County.

The new Domestic Violence Intervention Program shelter will have 70 beds for those in crisis, an increase from the 40 beds in the nonprofit’s current emergency shelter.

In the past year, DVIP served 2,416 people and housed 368 people in its emergency shelter, which has been full to capacity every day since it was built in 1993, according to Alta Medea, DVIP director of community engagement.

Alta Medea-Peters, director of community engagement, Domestic Violence Intervention Program, Iowa City (Submitted)

Beyond adding beds, the new shelter also will better support survivors of domestic violence by providing more personal and family space for residents in addition to a larger area for young people sheltering with their families.

Family units

“We’ll be moving away from the dorm style we currently have — which is two bunk beds, so four beds, to a room — into family living,” Medea-Peters said.

“So, we’ll still have bunk beds and multiple individuals per room, but there will be a shared family space, which allows that family to have that time to sort of process their trauma and heal as a family unit.”

The current emergency shelter has one shared kitchen and one shared living space.

The new shelter also will have shared spaces, but each family living unit will have a personal kitchen and living room connected to a couple of bedrooms.

The family units may be shared between multiple small families but are designed to provide more privacy, Medea-Peters said.

Discussions about building a new shelter started several years ago, but Medea-Peters said the organization learned a lot about sheltering families, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the pandemic, DVIP used federal ARPA funding from Johnson County to house some families in apartments, to provide more social distancing space in the emergency shelter.

The families that had their own apartments thrived, Medea-Peters said, prompting planners to create family living units in the new shelter.

The nonprofit’s building committee decided to replicate those “comforts of home” by adding “family pods” in the new shelter, she said.

“But we also need to make sure that the space is secure and private,” she said. “So, taking all of that expertise in their fields and bringing them together helped to design the new space.”

The building also will feature updated security to keep up with changes in technology and will add more space for Cooper’s House, the nonprofit’s emergency pet shelter.

Fundraising

DVIP still is raising money for the new shelter, which it hopes to finish by fall 2024.

The new building will cost about $6 million to build, with about $4.5 million raised to date. Donations can be made at dvipiowa.org/new-shelter-campaign.

The new shelter will be built adjacent to the old shelter, which will be repurposed as storage, office and program space. The exact location of the shelters is not disclosed, in keeping with security protocols.

Kristie Fortmann-Doser, Executive director DVIP — Kristie Fortmann-Doser, DVIP executive director

“DVIP is an organization that answers the question, ‘how do we help?’” Kristie Fortmann-Doser, DVIP’s executive director said at the Thursday groundbreaking. “Embarking on this project of building a new shelter has been a community effort.”