Simplified: Minnehaha County is leading the charge in creating a three-year strategic plan to address and prevent homelessness in Sioux Falls. The plan is bringing together dozens of community partners, including the City of Sioux Falls. Here's what you need to know.
Why it matters
- There have been plans to address homelessness before, but County Human Services Director Kari Benz said "this time is different." That's in-part because it's not just a plan looking at the problem – it's a plan looking at all of the people who are already out there trying to help solve it.
- This time around, the strategic plan is also being developed and funded by, as Benz put it, a neutral third party. Jim Lake, CEO of Vern Eide, is the financial backer, and the county is working with Sharon Chontos of North Star Solutions to facilitate the plan's creation.
- Chontos told the Minnehaha County Commission this week that her team will create a three-year strategic plan as well as a workbook that a homelessness steering committee can use to track progress on goals and hold everyone involved accountable.
"The benefit of having a strategic plan is everybody is basically playing off the same sheet of music," Chontos said. "And everybody knows what each other is doing and how they're responsible for helping individuals and families."
Tell me more
The City Council got a preview of this planning process last month, but on Tuesday a whole bunch more details were revealed – including the name of the donor behind this project and who's leading this effort.
Minnehaha County is the "backbone organization," to keep all of the other organizations working in tandem, or, as Chontos told commissioners, herd a whole bunch of cats.
"You need a really proficient cat herder to do that, and now you have one with Kari Benz," Chontos said.
The strategic plan will also include a sequential intercept map – which will essentially map out the various paths people take from homelessness to affordable, stable housing.
Chontos said the plan will also address some of the "unintended consequences" of Sioux Falls' robust network of unhoused support providers, i.e. folks who come to town specifically for those resources.
- Commissioner Dean Karsky commended Chontos for including this in the discussion, noting that it's good people want to use the resources available, "but it is a burden."
What happens next?
A group of about two dozen nonprofits, the county and the city will meet over the next few months to formulate the strategic plan, which is expected to be presented to the city and county in October.
