Sioux Falls Dudley House Director blames VA and Poor Public Transit for Homeless issues

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In November, the Director of the Dudley House Homeless shelter, Madeline Shields, shared her frustration with Jon Micheals on FORUM. While she praised the SFPD she shared a lot of frustration with how the VA doesn’t help (without using their name) and that Public Transit is almost non-existent on the weekends. While I would agree with her public transit is a complete turd mobile and the VA is a joke, there are solutions.

She said that it is hard for people who live in the shelter to get to work on the weekends if they work at hotels without public transit. First off, the hotels could pick them up since most of them have shuttle buses and secondly, this is what happens when you build a shelter where there are few jobs nearby for those who live there.

As for the VA, why not have a constant/permanent contact with them, or better yet, get in touch with our supposed three pro-veteran congressional delegates and tell them the issues (oh that’s right none of them have ever served.)

Shields also said that in order for them to get work, they must have a birth certificate to get an ID and those items should be FREE to the residents. Or, the shelter could start and endowment fund to help them pay for it? They come up with $200 a day for lunch, but don’t have a fund for IDs? OR get a hold of our legislators and get it changed.

There is also a need for more FELON FRIENDLY housing, which I would agree, but developers and contractors work on a GREED only basis. TIFs for Condos NOT for former CONVICTS.

She also says many choose to live outside instead of taking advantage of the shelter. While this is true, they certainly don’t need to be using your parking lot, we can come up with options.

I get her frustration with how many government programs are set up OR not set up, but this is why I have been telling people you have to put many heads together to come up with a solution(s). Just going on FORUM and complaining about it doesn’t fix it.

Honestly, I don’t understand the resistant to trying to solve this issue. Shields is right, it’s not all in her lap, but she has to be willing to reach out for solutions. Homelessness doesn’t solve itself on its own. Maybe after the City Council and Mayor get their 30% raise next year, they’ll start tackling the homeless issue ☹

Someone from the Sioux Falls Media finally covers the Chaos at the Dudley House

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Another Broken Poops Promise, when he was running for Mayor he said he would close the Dudley House because he would eliminate homelessness in Sioux Falls. That reminds me of the time I said I would not get drunk on St. Patty’s then 20 minutes later I was finishing my 3rd Irish Car bomb (they are very delicious).

The Argus finally did a story about it, the day they shut off the presses and made it only for online subscribers which is an intriguing editing decision from the braintrust running that joint.

What is that saying about a bear in the woods?

While it is an interesting story (that no one will see or read), this part literally had me fall out of my chair;

Since 2017, failure to vacate has been the top call to police near Eighth Street and Indiana Avenue. Thus far in 2021, it’s accounted for 20% of the 531 criminal reports taken by the police, according to data collected by the Argus Leader.

Maybe I am reading that wrong (I hope I am) but ONE intersection in this city accounts for 20% of the city’s criminal calls and reports in the entire city!? WTF!?

As I have said in the past, there is NO one solution, but in order to have a solution people need to put their heads together. That means people who live in the neighborhood, the businesses, the SFPD the City Council, churches and many others. When is the City Council and Mayor (you know, the supposed leaders of this town who drive autonomous vehicles thru Tuesday night meetings) going to call on a task force to be put together and have aggressive public meetings to combat this? A vigorous open public discussion with the community could put some solutions in motion. Blaming Covid for the problem or as Police Chief Thumbs did the ‘neighborhood’ area just doesn’t cut it.

Of course, you will see little to no action, even though I do know that some councilors and patrol officers do want solutions, but who has time for 8th & Indiana when we have Blizzards to hand out at Dairy Queen?

Sioux Falls Media ignoring the issues with the Bishop Dudley House neighborhood, and it’s PATHETIC!

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As we know this happened this week;

A Sioux Falls man who was stabbed in the head earlier this week has died in a hospital, police say. 
Christopher Joel Mousseaux, 32, was stabbed Sunday night and died Wednesday night, police spokesman Sam Clemens said. An autopsy was set to be performed Thursday.
Steven Tuopeh, 26, and Jeff Pour, 28, were arrested separately on Tuesday and charged with aggravated assault, Clemens said.
Mousseaux was stabbed around 10:30 p.m. Sunday near Eighth Street and Indiana Avenue, Clemens said.


For several months the Dudley House exterior property and adjacent public property has been the stomping ground for transients not allowed in the facility. They have been crapping, urinating, drinking, shootin’ up, fighting, sleeping and fornicating on the property or adjacent public property. Neighborhood complaints have been lodged at the SFPD, the Sioux Falls City Council, the Mayor, the Catholic Diocese who runs the house, the house director herself and several other organizations who assist the facility to no avail.

Now we have a person who has been murdered. Stabbed and beaten to death.

(the incident supposedly started at a bar on 8th and occurred directly North of the Dudley in a parking lot the volunteers use at the Banquet)


The media really needs to report the facts of what is going on in and around the Dudley House in that neighborhood, this is NOT a random isolated incident, the area around this facility has fallen into complete chaos and NOBODY wants to fix it and the MEDIA is dead silent about it.


We may humor the term ‘Fake News’ but in Sioux Falls we have ‘No News’.


It seems the city is handling this like they handled Covid, ignore it and maybe it will eventually go away.