SIOUX CITY -- Momentum is building to establish a detoxification center to help the Sioux City's homeless population and others who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction.
And it might not be long before the county and city's governing bodies and other local service agencies are asked to financially support a facility estimated to cost $1.5 million annually, the project's backers told the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.
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"We're really trying to drill down the details of what the facility would be," said Matt Ohman, executive director of Siouxland Human Investment Partnership, or SHIP, one of a number of organizations and individuals involved in the Siouxland Street Project, a coalition of community leaders seeking a solution to Sioux City's homeless problem.
Long a goal to help the city's homeless and those with drug and alcohol addictions, the detox center appears much closer to becoming reality than even six weeks ago, when a number of community leaders gathered on June 1 at the Ho-Chunk Center to share their needs with federal Indian Health Service officials and U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.
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Ohman said after Tuesday's meeting that with current momentum, including an offer from a private individual to donate "a considerable amount of funds," it's possible that a detox center could be opened within a year.
A detox center where people could be detoxified from substance abuse until they're sober enough to enter an addiction treatment facility is a top priority for the Siouxland Street Project. Members believe a center could reduce public intoxication arrests, keep people off the streets and help them kick their addictions.
Native American activist Frank LaMere, of South Sioux City, said that since the June meeting, he and others have continued speaking with King and IHS representatives about federal funding for the center. There are no guarantees, LaMere said, but he plans to exhaust all possibilities with the IHS, whose help is being sought because the agency funded a detox facility and halfway house for Native Americans in Sioux City until 2007, when it ended funding. A large percentage of Sioux City's homeless population also is Native American.
"If nothing comes of that, we are going to have to turn to other places, and maybe even turn to you," LaMere told county board members.
It could take months, maybe years to secure federal funding. Ohman said local advocates don't want to wait that long. In the meantime, they're searching for local, sustainable funding sources.
Since June 1 and a subsequent Sioux City Journal special report on homelessness, Ohman said the community has become more aware of the issue.
"I think that really was the jumping-off point," Ohman said of the June 1 meeting. "That really elevated everything."
Ohman said the Siouxland Street Project is reviewing potential detox center sites in Sioux City. The goal is for an easily accessible location downtown. For now, it's planned to have 10 beds for individuals while they detoxify under the supervision of full-time nursing care. Eventually, Ohman said, it's hoped that the center could provide more intensive medical treatment, but that would require lengthy certification processes. The initial goal is to provide basic detox services that might encourage clients to enter treatment programs.
It's a complex issue, county board chairman Rocky DeWitt said, and one he hopes to understand better.
"I hope we can get something done. I hope we can get something started," he said.