LETTER | Sioux Falls needs more overnight solutions for homeless

Letter by Kurt Woodard of Sioux Falls

The Sioux Falls city government has not formed an adequate plan to confront homelessness. Homeless assistance facilities on E. Eighth Street are still missing one key component in humanitarian assistance: there needs to be a place for people to sleep if they miss the curfew with sleeping facilities that currently operate.

Between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., each over-night shift that I work, we encounter homeless that walk the streets with nowhere to lay down. Police show up at the downtown hotels on a regular basis to tell the wandering over-night homeless to move along, which takes time away from other police calls.

The City of Sioux Falls has over 80 parks but can’t afford to find an affordable building in the E. Eighth street area to provide a warm, indoor place for the wandering homeless to roll out their sleeping bags? A city councilor said the staffing costs would be too expensive, yet he never mentioned volunteer solutions similar to those that serve the Banquet.