Not Everyone Can Afford To Live In Sioux Falls

SIOUX FALLS, SD - You've heard Sioux Falls is a great place to live, but that depends on who you are.

A new independent study details where the city is doing well when it comes to affordable housing, but it also points to areas where Sioux Falls could be doing a lot better.

The Sioux Falls city council has talked about affordable housing for years, but this is the first time it's conducted a comprehensive study of the issue. 

"We found each one of us had different ideas of what affordable housing is," city councilman Kenny Anderson, Jr. said.

Anderson spearheaded the study that he says will act as a road map for future.

It looked at six of the oldest neighborhoods and identified three groups who need help finding places to live. They are families making less than $20,000 a year, minorities and senior citizens.

Anderson believes the study will act as a roadmap to help improve the housing situation in Sioux Falls because he wants people not only to live here, but enjoy living here. 

"Why not look at reinvesting in the neighborhoods before we lose them.  Let's keep our senior citizens in their homes longer if they want to ," Anderson said.

Anderson says not everyone can afford to live in Sioux Falls, but the study suggests they could through a public and private partnership. 

"We have to make sure there is some sort of balance between the haves and have nots and make sure we don't lose any of our neighborhoods, like we lost the Pettigrew area.  That cost us millions to get it to start coming back," Anderson said.

The city council will get its first look at the study Monday during its informational meeting at Carnegie Town Hall.