By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
Writer's note: While the local Homeless Advisory Board recently told city and county officials about the homeless problem in Sioux Falls, they didn’t mention one project that came about due to their early efforts, Project Safe Home. Although the homelessness rate continues to grow in Sioux Falls, Safe Home has been operating “behind the scenes” to help that problem.
SIOUX FALLS – At a recent joint meeting of the Sioux Falls City Council and the Minnehaha County Commission, members learned of the plight of homeless people from the Homeless Advisory Board.
According to that board at the Nov. 26 joint city/county meeting, the number of homeless here is increasing above the rate of other similar-sized cities.
The board was started 15 years ago to deal with this problem; however, one thing they had originally looked at, the city pulled out of.
That was Project Safe Home, which, over its almost-nine-year history, has taken many homeless people off the streets.
Project Safe Home, which was based on the Housing First program, was originally part of efforts to fight homelessness as envisioned by then Sioux Falls Mayor Dave Munson.
And while he was part of the group that broke ground on the facility for Safe Home, he eventually took the city out of their commitment to the project before Safe Home opened, Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth said.
Barth, in his first term on the commission back then, talked about keeping the project going.
“(Commissioners) Anne Hajek and Carol Twedt wouldn’t give up, even though the mayor did.”
But in the meantime, director of Safe Home, Jeff Yarbrough, has been working behind the scenes to provide “housing first” for people who had no homes.
Yarbrough had been working on the homelessness project in Sioux Falls before Safe Home opened in 2011, but since that time he has been the only director of the 33-unit facility.
As it now stands, each 490 square foot unit houses one person, and while some have moved up to other housing situations and a few have been “asked to move on,” many of the residents of Safe Home have been there for a long time.
According to Yarbrough, the idea behind this is to give people a safe, clean place off the streets to call home and to help them get back on their feet.
He said that the average age of the Safe Home residents is 49-years-old.
And while they do have a regular rental fee of $499 per month, it doesn’t seem like the ability to pay will get a person evicted.
“People pay what they can,” Yarbrough said, but he did say that having the permanent address that comes with an apartment at Safe Home allows residents to get jobs and other services to help make rent.
He went on to explain that the residents there have a “point system” which helps determine the ability for people to stay.
While physical violence will get a person removed right away, other infractions just add points.
Those who hit 300 points are asked to move out.
And that process, Yarbrough said, is usually easy.
“We can start the eviction process on residents,” he said, “but if they move out easily, they are eligible to come back in six months.”
As the ability to move back in isn’t afforded to people who have to be evicted, there have only been “a couple of evictions” in the almost nine year history of Safe Home.
Residents are required to do chores around the facility, they cannot smoke in the building, and there are specific rules when it comes to drinking alcohol.
Unlike homeless shelters such as the Union Gospel Mission and the St. Francis House, which prohibit alcohol, Yarborough feels that if Safe Home is providing a residence for adults, they have to allow legal activities, like drinking.
But the staff at Safe Home does have some restrictions surrounding what can be brought in.
For example, when people come in, they need to be buzzed in the front door by staff members who check anything being brought in.
While residents can bring in alcohol, there is a limit on how much can be brought in. Anything over that limit is locked up in the front office.
Also, residents who do choose to drink in the building can only do so alone in their own units.
Drinking in the open or drinking with others racks up points for anyone involved.
The money to build Safe Home originally came from a $350,000 grant that Sen. Tim Johnson helped the county obtain.
They also received tax credits from Citibank to help them finance the project.
According to Barth, contractor Craig Lloyd helped out as well, and to this day Lloyd still helps by providing Christmas dinner for the staff and the residents of Safe Home.
Only 33 people?
To some building a facility that only helps 33 people at any one time, would be a waste of funds, but when Munson started the Homeless Advisory Board around 2006, he said his goal was to end homelessness in Sioux Falls in 10 years.
As the members of the board who spoke to city and county officials said, that goal has not been accomplished.
According the South Dakota Housing for the Homeless Consortium, in January of this year, there were 334 homeless people in Sioux Falls.
While that number does include sheltered and non-sheltered people, it would not include those with Project Safe Home, since, thanks to Minnehaha County, they are no longer homeless.
Barth said that each homeless individual in the county costs about $30,000 per year.
Using that number, Project Safe Home saves taxpayers just under $1 million annually.
“We didn’t (build Safe Home) with the expectation that it would save the county money, but it saves the community resources,” he said.
“The ambulances aren’t picking them up all the time. The police aren’t picking them up all the time. The hospitals aren’t inundated with homeless people…
“So, between the criminal justice system, the county, the hospitals and the businesses downtown, it saves.”
And as the weather turns very cold and the Homeless Advisory Board meets with local government, saving money and helping those who need help are very important considerations.
