TULSA, Okla. — Work continues across Green Country as Safe Move Tulsa moves through the city, closing homeless encampments.
The latest, near 96th and Riverside, just down the trail from the first site, closed back in November. Emily Hall with the City of Tulsa says the area has been returned to its intended use.
"We have now closed over a mile and a half stretch of river trails to sleeping just the last month and a half," Hall said.
The other site announced, in east Tulsa near 11th and Skelly. Between these two locations, 13 additional people are now housed, with 68 people in all between the five closed sites.
Mayor Monroe Nichols says on his social media that everyone who's accepted housing is still in housing, adding, "it's proof this strategy is working." Mark Smith with Housing Solutions says they still have a long way to go.
"Our goal with phase one of Safe Move Tulsa is 300 people moving off the streets and out of long-term homelessness into housing and stability," Smith said. "So we're about a quarter of the way there. We have more work to be done. But we know there's more than 300 individuals experiencing homelessness in our community."
You can view those camps on Safe Move Tulsa's newly launched website at safemovetulsa.com. A place for the community to see work done in real time.
"It really kind of shows how we got here today, which may seem like it's been a long time, but we've really only been working, targeted on these encampments for a few months now, and we've made some incredible progress," Smith said.
Organizers say that of the five camps they've closed so far, none have reopened.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- 2 News Oklahoma on your schedule | Download on your TV, watch for free. How to watch on your streaming device
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
