A Drake University study on homeless families in central Iowa finds a major need for more emergency family shelters.
Researchers followed ten families living in shelters across the Des Moines metro last year as they navigated housing resources.
Drake sociology professor Elizabeth Talbert, a lead researcher, says discrimination from landlords against low-income renters and “exorbitant” application fees made the housing search even more difficult for families.
“There is no family that we talked to that wants to stay in the shelter for that 30-day period,” Talbert says, “but the amount of ingenuity and work that goes into finding a place really can’t be overstated.”
Researchers said one of the largest stressors for families was figuring out how to navigate homeless services.
Talbert says her interviews showed there’s a thin line between being middle class and not having housing.
“There’s often a very small space between that,” she says, “and what we found was it’s not usually anything within their control that made that happen.”
The study recommends limiting the number of application fees low-income families need to pay, and creating tougher regulations to hold landlords accountable for predatory pricing.
It also urges creation of a more intuitive onboarding system that could include video tutorials and a course on how to access services.
(By Isabella Luu, Iowa Public Radio)