Homeless Advisory Board

 

 

What Poverty and Homelessness Looks Like in Sioux Falls…
Causes of homelessness are varied but can include poverty, domestic violence, mental health issues, catastrophic illness, unemployment, substance abuse, divorce, natural disasters, returning to civilian life after military service, and a lack of affordable housing.

 

A basic definition of homeless is someone who is lacking a permanent, safe place to live.

• Often times the difference between being housed and being homeless is the support network that is available – both familial/friend and in the community – how it responds or has set up a safety net to prevent homelessness.

 

Hunger

a) Free and Reduced Lunches: total number of enrolled students is 23,702 as of 10/03/2016.

• Elementary students 50.8%
• Secondary students 42.7%
  TOTAL:  46.73% (or 11,069 students)

 

b) The Banquet:

• 200 people at the second location (fairgrounds), averages 500 or so per night downtown location
• 5962 backpacks for school supplies so far this school year

 

c) Salvation Army:

• provided 141 households with food in October (averages around 100 per month so this is the highest it’s been).
• will provided about 450 (or more) Thanksgiving Day baskets for those in need.
• provides 500 Senior boxes of food.

 

d) Feeding South Dakota/Food Pantry:

• In Sioux Falls, they have 61 separate Food Bank partner agencies that operate 93 programs.
• In November, they will fill 1,550 Senior Boxes for low-income seniors living in eastern South Dakota.
• Since this time last year, the Food Pantry has seen a 25% increase in the number of households being served.
• Each week, they fill about 3,400 BackPacks in Sioux Falls.

 

Housing

a) Homeless Students identified in the School District as of 10/31/16 (since school started on September 7):

• 498 youth in 252 families
  *11 unaccompanied youth

 

b) Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs (Volunteers of America, Dakotas):

• Independent Living Preparation Program served 26 homeless youth ages 16-21 in Fiscal Year 2016.
  * They have 10 apartment units.
  Have received 40 referrals that could not be served because of capacity and financial support.
  
• Street Outreach Services have provided 36 individuals with food and other supplies.
  *752 duplicated outreach contacts occurred with 137 case management services.
       

 

c) Cost of a Unit in Sioux Falls (Fair Market Rent determined by HUD as of 10/01/16):

 

d) Minnehaha County Department of Human Services:  Homeless Applications from January to October 31, 2016

• 1,258 unduplicated applications with 433 having children (1,732 total applications including duplicate)
• 2,472 unduplicated people including 847 children (3,443 including duplicated people)

e) Local Homeless Shelter Providers:

• Bishop Dudley Hospitality House as of October 31, 2016
  1251 total unduplicated people comprising 949 Men and 302 Women. They have also served 54 families (110 children)
  * 80 male beds, 20 female beds and 7 family units
  * Total Nights of Individual Bed Utilization = 25,673    
  * 16,323 lunches
  St. Francis House as of October 31, 2016
  - 224 total unduplicated guests including 91 males and 133.  93% of the guests have a chemical dependency issue and 61% struggle with mental health issues.
  * They provide breakfast, lunch and supper to guests, as well as supply sack lunches if someone is in need.
                  Union Gospel Mission estimates 28,000 nights of lodging in 2016.  They have 72 male beds and 48 women and children beds.
  * also estimates that they will provide 90,000 meals in 2016.
  Children’s Inn as of September 30, 2016
  - 155 women and children have stayed in shelter. Served a record number of people in shelter at the end of September with 76 people staying there on one day.  They have capacity for 40 women and 12 Abused and Neglected children.

f) Southeastern Homeless Outreach Program:

• Had contact with 392 individuals who were homeless and enrolled 198 who met Severely Mentally Ill (SMI) criteria
  - 2,525 case management services were provided to those 198 individuals.
  * Majority of these clients were White and between the ages of 31-50
  * More than 50% have co-occurring substance abuse disorders
  *At time of assessment, they had been living in an emergency shelter for 2-30 days.

 

g) VA Homeless Veterans Program:

• Over 220 homeless Veterans identified in the SF catchment area in 2016 with 147 new assessments completed this year.
  - 117 Veterans participate in HUD-VASH and 21 in the Grant per Diem program with Volunteers of America, Dakotas.

h) Heartland House:

• 60 homeless families are on their waiting list

 

i) Falls Community Health Homeless Healthcare Program:

• 2015 Final Data: 1417 unduplicated patients for a total of 5,522 visits

 

 

 

For additional information and updates, please review this Snapshot of Economic Indicators for Sioux Falls:

 

Contact info: Stacey Tieszen
Coordinator
Homeless Advisory Board
521 N. Main Avenue, Suite 201, Sioux Falls, SD 57104
(605) 978-5611