Even with a job, or government help, county officials say affordable housing is becoming more out of reach for the poorest in Sioux Falls.

Cramped inexpensive motel rooms with little heat are no place for families and seniors with disabilities, but Action News Reporter Valerie Gutierrez found out that's where some families are now finding themselves.

Drive by it and it looks like a regular motel but for some Sioux Falls familIes this motel on the Westside of town is home--the only affordable housing they can find.

"And this is where my mom sleeps, this is the hotel bed,"

Joyce Dobson, her mother and a niece have been living at the Nitez Inn Hotel for about two months.

It was suppose to be temporary but this is the only place she can afford to live.

"You cannot find a place to live where you can afford to pay the rent afford to pay the utilities and still be able to live and function, you can't do it."

So today she and her son are at the Minnehaha County Human Services Department. He just lost his job and his rent is now six days late. The county's Hugh Grogan has had a steady stream of people in similar situations.:

"They need partial help on the rent to keep a roof over their heads."

"For example this Sioux Falls neighborhood used to be filled with affordable housing but as you can see all you'll find is an empty lot and while that's good for development, that's not good for other people."

Hugh Grogan from the Minnehaha County Human Services Department says it's a problem that has a lot of different angles.

"On the other hand, it creates a dilemma for people whom that's the only housing that's available and that's part of the larger numbers that we're seeing right now, it's part of a greater struggle for people to find a unit that's affordable."

"This is what we call home. And I bought a little oven to cook in...and this has a little stove but this is part of the refrigerator but it doesn't work."

Joyce tells us but she is hoping her son will get on his feet so she can move in with him and have a real kitchen. And a place she and her family won't have to check out of.

Sioux Falls is getting federal money to help expand a voucher program to help low income families make a living wage.
The Sioux Falls Housing and Redevelopment Commission will receive a federal grant of just over $72-thousand dollars for the Housing Choice Voucher Family Self-Sufficiency Program; which encourages communities to work with local partners to help voucher families obtain the skills they need to find a job that pays a living wage.

The county says there's a growing waiting list for those vouchers that allow households to find stable rental housing in the community.