TULSA, Okla — Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols hosted a fourth "Community Conversation" at the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA to discuss homelessness and affordable housing.
Housing Solutions of Tulsa presented various data showing statistics on homelessness and how affordable housing plays into it.
WATCH: TRANSPARENCY: Tulsa Mayor Nichols hosts fourth Community Conversation
Housing Solutions found there are about 1500 people in Tulsa who are currently homeless and 3100 people enter homelessness annually.
The organization found that 80 percent of cases could be solved with early intervention, and more than 500 homeless individuals wait more than a year for deep interventions.
Because of that, the City of Tulsa is now working to create more space in shelters and to offer early intervention through a new initiative called "Safe Move Tulsa".
Mayor Nichols said there is a $10 million budget to ensure fewer and fewer people are sleeping on the streets.
"We'll house 300 individuals and families over the next nine to 12 months," he said. "Something we're really focused on.”
Safe Move Tulsa aims to roll out several processes to reach the goal of functional zero homelessness by 2030:
- Eliminate street sleeping by rehousing unhoused people
- Help shelters become more effective by helping people avoid them altogether making more room along with helping shelters with early interventions so people can be housed quicker
- Streamline building processes and establish partnerships to construct affordable housing
Something that has also been on everyone’s radar recently is Operation SAFE.
OHP has worked with the state to clear out homeless encampments across Oklahoma, Tulsa being no stranger to it.
“In some ways, let's call it water under the bridge," said Mayor Nichols. "We can have a fresh start. We would love to have the state partner with us. If they don't want to, I understand, but the City of Tulsa is going to focus on best practice strategies, get people off the street, get them all to a better life.”
While people seem to land on different sides when it comes to providing aid to the homeless, it is definitely an issue people are passionate about, and it showed.
Jennifer Easely believes helping the homeless is a misuse of the city's and taxpayers' money.
“Some of them don't want to be helped," she said. “I don't think that it's right for them to have two sets of rules, one set for the homeless that makes drugs and one set for a regular citizen.”
Meanwhile, Bobbi-Jo is an unhoused Tulsa resident who is on her way to getting her own space.
"Lot of people should understand what we are going through, and it's very hard to be out there," she said. "I got my confidence to come.”
She said she is slowly reaching her goal.
“I just need to get two more documents," she said. "My case manager already done put one the paper works in for my house, and so I am working very hard towards my goal, where I need to be.”
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