Besides the fact that there was NO public call for membership to this group they have NO one from the neighborhood (residents or business owners) serving the on the group.

While we could certainly wait to see what this group accomplishes, it’s hard for me to have much confidence when the selection of the task force was done in secret and lacking transparency.

While some of the members of the board do work in affordable housing and social work, I’m not sure athletes, realtors and directors of business organizations really have a grasp of what is going on in this neighborhood. Where is the director of one of the homeless shelters like the Mission or Dudley house on the board? Or a rep from the Banquet? What about a pastor or deacon? A business owner or homeowner in this neighborhood would have been an excellent addition to the group. It is pretty much a group of bureaucrats that are going to craft policies that uphold the bureaucracy instead of fixing the problem.

The SFPD really needs a group of officers dedicated to outreach to the homeless. That would be a great first step. Instead of reacting to the problem, a proactive approach.

I live in the Nelson Park neighborhood, and to be quite honest with you I have never seen so many homeless people before, the problem has exploded.

I do wish them luck and I want to thank Chair Merkouris for wanting to take this on. I also think it is wonderful the meetings will be open to the public, and WILL be recored. Nothing can be accomplished in the dark.

11 Thoughts on “City of Sioux Falls Homeless Task Force lacks neighborhood representation

  1. D@ily Spin on July 28, 2022 at 11:10 am said:

    The Homeless Task Force is just for looks. With the number of private organizations, it’s obvious the city doesn’t care but wants to look as if it does. How about make the homeless short time directors? They’d get a few paychecks and lucrative severance. Problem solved.

  2. Very Stable Genius on July 28, 2022 at 1:31 pm said:

    Listen, we are a booming town in an age of a collapsing middle class, climate change, pandemic reshuffling of the masses, inflation, and a rising upper middle income sector with its growing indifference. And, Sioux Falls has a reputation for possibilities and as long as this is all true then the homeless will continue to come. We are like a border town. We can process them, but we can’t stop them. You will not solve the problem, but you can maintain and control it, well, hopefully.

    ( and Woodstock adds: “‘border town’?”…. “Well, speaking of that, every time I go to Taco Bell they are always all sold out of Mexican Pizzas”…. “Boy, I tell you, if this continues, then I’m afraid I’m going to have to vote all Republican this fall” …. )

  3. Social Police on July 28, 2022 at 2:52 pm said:

    “The SFPD really needs a group of officers dedicated to outreach to the homeless”

    Why is someone being homeless a police issue?

  4. Want to be? on July 28, 2022 at 4:08 pm said:

    How are you going to help people that obviously choose to be homeless? Most of these people are young, and relatively able bodied. Give them too much, word gets out that Sioux Falls gives free crap, and more come in to get free crap. You lib’rals gots all the answers. Solve the homeless crisis….please

  5. D@ily Spin on July 28, 2022 at 5:20 pm said:

    How about give them a bus ticket to Minneapolis. Minnesota is more compassionate. They have tamed their homeless problem. Homeless don’t die from dehydration or freezing there like they do here.

  6. Social and want to, the police must be there to begin understanding the root issues. No one has a desire to live on the streets in filth. Your statements show how important it is for you to be there.

  7. My Mistake Mike on July 29, 2022 at 8:06 am said:

    Like WTB said, Sioux Falls does have a reputation for food and shelter with few questions asked. It’s why Yankton, Watertown, and Mitchell are dropping them off at the door of the BDHH. It’s why Sioux City and Fargo put them on a bus and send them here.

    There needs to be a more comprehensive look that includes these other regional communities in the discussion. Short of that, my solution is to buy them bus tickets in October to wherever it is they truly want to be … where they have family, where they might find help. Nobody wants to be homeless, especially in the dead of winter.

  8. Further Fear & Loathing on July 29, 2022 at 5:53 pm said:

    Did someone say something (“Someday?”) about a bus from Fargo? Not this again ….

  9. The Usual Group, again on July 30, 2022 at 8:53 am said:

    When you look at the group of “leaders” or thought police making decisions about a neighborhood none of them live or work in Orwell’s words come to mind:

    ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

  10. "Woodstock" on July 30, 2022 at 11:39 am said:

    “And don’t forget”…. “God created men (women) equal, and then Samuel Colt made them equal”….

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