Bishop Dudley House director pleased with forum turnout

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A forum Thursday night on homelessness in Sioux Falls focused on the perspective of government leaders, with Mayor Paul TenHaken sharing appreciation.

“Lot of people in this room are service providers or you’re here either because you work in this space or you’re passionate about it,” TenHaken said at Thursday’s event. “And thank you for that.”

Bishop Dudley Hospitality House Executive Director Madeline Shields was among the attendees, and the crowd grabbed her attention.

“I appreciate the forum and everyone coming together,” Shields said Friday. “I wasn’t sure how many people would show up, and I was really pleasantly surprised at the number of people.”

TenHaken made clear that he sees community cooperation as falling considerably short when it comes to helping people battling homelessness.

Rhoden shares parting words in Senate

“There is a huge lack of collaboration in this space,” TenHaken said Thursday. “Don’t know how else to say it.”

Moments later, the forum’s moderator asked the mayor to elaborate. And while TenHaken declined to cast blame on any one person or organization, he highlighted an area of concern.

“What’s the hold-up, essentially?” moderator Lori Walsh said.

“It’s complicated,” TenHaken said in response. “I mean, I don’t want to air dirty laundry but it’s just, everybody collects their data in their own way. And some want to share it. Some don’t.”

For her part, Shields believes her shelter is doing all it can to partner well with the government.

“I believe wholeheartedly that our collaboration with the city and with the county and with the state is fantastic because we do have a lot of information that we do share and vice versa,” Shields said.

KELOLAND News reached out to TenHaken’s office Friday for a follow-up interview but was told the mayor was unavailable.