South Dakota

NLIHC has estimated a need for no less than $100 billion in emergency rental assistance and broke down the need and cost for each state (download Excel spreadsheet). 

In response to COVID-19 and its economic fallout, many cities and states are creating or expanding rental assistance programs to support individuals and families impacted by the pandemic, and NLIHC is tracking in-depth information on these programs.  

You can use the interactive map and searchable database to find state and local emergency rental assistance programs near you. You can also see the latest news on rental assistance programs through the state-by-state news tracker. Note that this is not a comprehensive list of all rental assistance programs as we continue to update frequently. If you are aware of a program not included in our database, please contact [email protected]. 

COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Programs

Across the country, homeless service providers are struggling to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to follow public health guidelines and help ensure people’s safety, some shelters are being forced to reduce services, restrict admittance, or close entirely. The loss of these critical resources puts people experiencing homelessness at even higher risk of illness. Check NLIHC's cumulative list of shelter closings.

Below is a list of shelters that have had to majorly alter services or completely close:

No information at this time.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem announced that her administration is returning $81.5 million in federal emergency rental assistance funds and is requesting that $17.9 million of that money be redirected to the Oglala Sioux, Lower Brule Sioux, and Crow Creek Sioux.

Updated on May 23, 2022

Rapid City Journal reports FEMA has awarded South Dakota over $250,000 from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program to provide food, shelter, rent, and utility assistance for residents experiencing non-disaster-related emergencies.

Updated on September 21, 2021

As of August 5, about half of South Dakota counties are protected by the new federal eviction moratorium as 96% of the state’s federal emergency rental assistance remains unspent. According to data from July 30, the South Dakota Housing Development Authority has been allotted $319 million in rent relief but has only distributed $12.9 million or 4% of it. 
Updated on August 30, 2021

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 42,000 of South Dakota’s roughly 139,000 renters had little or no confidence that they would be able to make their August rent payment.

Updated on September 2, 2020.

South Dakota’s 211 Helpline Center has fielded more than 7,000 calls this year from people requesting rent or mortgage assistance. This is more than twice the number of rental assistance requests that the organization received in 2019.

Updated on August 25, 2020.

Homeless shelters in Sioux Falls are facing additional challenges to serving people experiencing homelessness in the wake of the pandemic. While city shelters, including Union Gospel Mission and the Bishop Dudley Hospitality House, struggle to balance safety and service, they continue their missions to serve people experiencing homelessness.

A COVID-19 housing aid program in Sioux Falls is starting to reach its first recipients, providing housing assistance to individuals at high risk of COVID-19 or experiencing symptoms.

Rapid City

Nonprofit organizations, healthcare facilities, private companies, and governments in Rapid City are collaborating to provide food and housing assistance to people who have tested positive for the coronavirus and are unable to safely quarantine. Oyate Health Center, which serves the Native American community in Pennington County, has rented 22 rooms at the Travelodge hotel to help people from congregate living areas and people who live in multi-generational homes safely quarantine.

Federal, state, and local eviction moratoriums are rapidly expiring and the CARES Act supplemental unemployment benefits will end soon; at that time, millions of low-income renters will be at risk of losing their homes. The NLIHC estimates at least $100 billion in emergency rental assistance is needed to keep low-income renters stably housed during and after the pandemic. This tracker links to news reports of the growing evictions crisis in various cities and states. Check NLIHC's cumulative list of eviction updates.

 More than twice as many South Dakotans have looked to taxpayers or charities to cover at least one month of rent in the first half of 2020 compared to all of 2019, and new surveys from the U.S. Census Bureau suggest the need for rent assistance will rise as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The 211 Helpline Center, with locations in Sioux Falls, Brookings and Rapid City, has fielded more than 7,000 calls from people needing help making a rent or mortgage payment during the first seven months of the year. This is more than double the number of rent-assistance calls the organization saw in all of 2019.

Updated: August 28

State never issued eviction moratorium, and no circuit court orders suspended eviction proceedings (though they were granted flexibility/discretion). Governor explicitly states she will not consider a moratorium 

Updated: July 31

In the third week of July, 18.8% of adults in South Dakota reported they had missed their previous housing payment or had little confidence they would make their next one on time, according to a weekly survey conducted by the Census. In the same survey, 31,055 renters reported they had not paid their previous rental payment.

Updated: July 29

South Dakota never issued a statewide eviction moratorium, leaving it up to local discretion. According to a weekly Census survey, 46, 245 renters in South Dakota did not pay their June rent, with an additional 3,323 indicating they had deferred their June rent payment. 

Updated: July 16