As Tulsa continues its push to end street homelessness, the city announced Thursday it’s now closed its fourth and fifth encampments.
The decommissioning is a part of Safe Move Tulsa whose goal is to move 300 people into housing. So far, 68 people have been housed, including 13 in the latest push.
During a Thursday press conference, Mark Smith, Housing Solutions CEO, said while they’re focused on housing in the first phase, the next goal involves getting people back to being functional in society. That work will start in the next coming weeks.
“We have people that fall into crisis. Shelters are a great place for people to stay and access resources. But, folks need need more assistance to get back out of those shelters and get back on their feet,” Smith said.
Officials said they closed encampments at 96th and Riverside and another at 11th and Skelly. Five and eight people were housed, respectively.
After having already shut down the Eagle’s Nest site north of the Riverside location, the city said “all long-term encampments on the west side of Riverside Drive from Casino Drive to 96th Street have been decommissioned.”
Tulsa will now focus on clearing trash from the area. All told, the city says it has cleared nearly 62 tons of debris since Safe Move’s launch in November.
The effort, which is a partnership with Housing Solutions and A Way Home for Tulsa, also announced a new website Thursday allowing people to track progress.
“Safe Move Tulsa is proving that when you focus your resources around a common goal and put your investments where your needs are — great things can happen,” Mayor Monroe Nichols said in a press release.
One of his goals is to reach functional zero homelessness by 2030.
The city also continues to make progress on the low-barrier shelter it announced last October.
“The low barrier shelter is on a pathway to completion hopefully in a year or so,” Emily Hall, senior advisor on homelessness, said.
Hall said they’re working to get permitting and then construction will start.
Phillip Jackson with the Tulsa Flyer contributed to this story.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from Thursday’s press conference.
