Annual count finds decrease in those experiencing homelessness in Sioux Falls

For the first time in five years, the number of people experiencing homelessness has dropped in Sioux Falls.

An annual count in January found 605 people sheltered or unsheltered and without a permanent home.

The count is a requirement for organizations that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This year’s count identified 562 people in sheltered settings, compared with 565 last year, and 43 individuals living unsheltered within city limits, versus 60 last year.

“While it’s not a full scope and vision of what homelessness looks like in Sioux Falls, it is one of our most important tools we use for planning services, identifying resource needs and tracking trends,” said Michelle Treasure, the city’s homelessness services coordinator.

“The decline … is encouraging, but we know this work is far from done.”

Of the 605 individuals counted this year, 156 were adults age 35 to 44, while 131 were age 45 to 54. Children younger than 18 accounted for 90 of those counted. The count also identified 27 veterans experiencing homelessness.

This year’s count found that 113 individuals were identified with a substance use disorder. A total of 108 adults were counted as survivors of domestic violence, while 93 adults were reported as having a serious mental illness.

While the numbers show promise, especially given the city’s population growth, “they also help us highlight ongoing challenges that require continued collaboration and innovation and a lot of creativity,” Treasure said. “Each of these numbers represents a person. We are proud — those that are doing this work and working with these individuals — when this number decreases even just by one.”

Federal guidelines require all programs receiving funding to collect county data in late January, ensuring a consistent, nationally comparable snapshot of homelessness. The timing also aligns with a point in the month when many people have exhausted public benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Social Security, making it more likely that those experiencing homelessness will be visible and counted accurately.

“Sioux Falls has for many years now had a 100 percent participation rate among all the providers. There’s a fantastic sense of community,” said Joseph Tilke, continuum of care administrator for Sioux Falls Housing.

Dozens of organizations and their staff assisted with surveying and counting people this year. These staff members were from agencies that serve individuals experiencing homelessness, including shelter staff, street outreach teams and behavioral health providers. Emergency shelters and transitional housing programs surveyed their own guests, while other volunteers canvassed the city to identify people staying in unsheltered locations such as parking ramps, building entryways, public libraries, food pantries and parks.

Organizations that took part in the 2026 count were the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House, St. Francis House, Union Gospel Mission, Minnehaha County Human Services, Children’s Home Shelter for Family Safety, Call to Freedom, Volunteers of America, Southeastern Directions for Life and the Veterans Community Project.

“Emergency shelters and transitional housing programs survey their own guests. … Volunteers canvas the city to identify people who are unsheltered during the night of the count whether they are sleeping outside, in a vehicle, other places not meant for human habitation,” said Suzanne Smith, count organizer and associate vice president for enterprise data analytics at the Augustana Research Institute.

“So they visit community meals, they visit parking ramps and building entries, public libraries, food pantries, the transit center, parks and other places where people may be staying in unsheltered conditions.”

Because the volunteers represent agencies that work directly with people experiencing homelessness, “they’re also able to connect these folks to resources as they are out working on the count,” Smith said.

“We try to ensure we cover the breadth of the city while reducing duplicate surveys.”

During the winter, the count also “is always going to be safer and more accurate because it means the bulk of the work is going to be done with the shelters,” Tilke said, adding that when it comes to shelter beds, “Sioux Falls is in a great position.”

Bed count and availability has expanded as shelters have gotten “more creative” in how they’re accommodating people, Treasure said.

She also credits the collaborative street outreach efforts involving multiple partners, triage services at The Link, collaboration between Minnehaha County and St. Francis House around programming, and Sioux Falls Housing, which has dedicated Section 8 housing vouches to homeless individuals. Thirty people have been placed in housing, while only two have not worked out.

“Some of the individuals who are historically some of the hardest to house in our community are now in their own apartment, they’ve got work permits, and they’re on the path forward to positivity and growth,” Treasure said.

“The success is not accidental. It’s the result of a lot of people working together.”