Waypoint pursues 12-unit ‘entry-level’ housing project for Cedar Rapids’ unhoused

CEDAR RAPIDS — For nearly two decades, Waypoint Services’ Madge Phillips Center offered temporary refuge to those experiencing homelessness in and around Cedar Rapids. Now, the organization is seeking a more permanent solution.

Waypoint last week announced a $4.9 million capital campaign, dubbed “Creating Hope: A New Vision for the Madge Phillips Center,” to transform the former emergency shelter into a 12-unit, entry-level housing complex.

CEO Jaye Kennedy said the units will be reserved for those experiencing “literal homelessness,” meaning those who truly have no other place to go. Construction is underway, and the goal is to sign the first tenant next fall.

“Housing solves homelessness. It’s as easy as that,” Kennedy told The Gazette. “It was only a matter of time” before we pursued a project like this.

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Waypoint closed its emergency shelter in late 2023 following a five-year decline in shelter usage that coincided with a national shift toward promoting more permanent, “housing first” solutions over temporary shelter stays.

“Housing first” models provide stable housing for those experiencing chronic homelessness and then addresses underlying issues. The approach aims to recognize that an individual’s basic needs — such as housing — must be met before addressing things like employment barriers or substance use issues.

It’s a nationally recognized model that Kennedy said resonated with the experience of Waypoint staff and the individuals they serve.

“Whether it's an individual or a family, when they’re houseless, that houselessness is usually a symptom to one or more underlying issues,” she said. “But it’s difficult for a person who is unhoused to address what’s going on without stability and with daily concerns like ‘Where am I going to sleep tonight?’”

That model underlines the nonprofit’s plans to convert the former shelter space at 318 Fifth St. SE into 12, entry-level apartments. Site plans call for five studio apartments, five one-bedroom apartments and two two-bedroom apartments to fill the space.

Download: Madge Phillips Apartment Layout

Leasing for the apartments will be based on the Coordinated Entry System that local housing providers use to support those experiencing homelessness and fill program vacancies.

Eligible tenants can live in the units for one year at “well below market-rate” rent while receiving assistance from Waypoint staff to connect with supportive services, Kennedy said. Tenants will be expected to pay a deposit for their unit, although Waypoint will cover utilities.

Staff also will work with tenants to connect them with community resources and/or eligible benefits programs to help cover living costs.

The goal is that by the end of the year, tenants will have connected with the right services to address the underlying issues that first contributed to them becoming unhoused. With those new resources or connections, they should then be able to find more permanent housing.

“Hopefully, at the end of that year they’ve addressed those issues, found solutions and are on their way to moving forward while at the same time increasing future opportunities,” Kennedy said.

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The nonprofit is currently around the halfway mark in its capital campaign for the project, thanks in part to matching donations from the Hall-Perrine Foundation and the Busse Foundation.

In addition to the apartments, the campaign also will support the construction of a “call center” where Waypoint staff will work collaboratively to answer community members’ questions about local housing resources.

To learn more about the project and/or donate to the campaign, visit waypointservices.org/donate/creatinghope.

Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com