For the past six weeks, social workers have hit the downtown Tulsa streets at 4:30 a.m. to find regular sleepers and figure out what they need to stay housed. It’s been intentional and quiet work among several agencies.
Some unhoused Tulsans have already moved into shelters or housing, and more will be placed this weekend as the effort steps up. It is not a round up or moving people along, said Mark Smith, CEO of Housing Solutions, Tulsa’s housing coordination agency. This is an approach to enforce the many city and state laws meant to reduce homelessness.
About 40 people have been identified as regular sleepers, Smith said, but that is a preliminary number. Outreach workers have informed them of the laws and searched for the right housing fit. That could involve addiction treatment, mental health services, job placement or education.
Agencies involved are the Tulsa Day Center, Mental Health Association Oklahoma, GRAND Mental Health, Family & Children’s Services, YWCA, Tulsa Police Department, private security firms and the Downtown Tulsa Partnership.
“We are all working from the same script in coordination as opposed to different groups doing it on their own,” Smith said. “We are creating a coordinated system. When we offer shelter to people, we can now transport them right then and there. That is new.
“With the resources Safe Move Tulsa is bringing, it creates more flow to housing that reduces the need to street sleep.”
Safe Move Tulsa, the mayor’s $10 million homelessness initiative, launched last November. Since then, workers have removed five homeless encampments and placed nearly 70 people into housing. The downtown effort is larger in size geographically and among those served.
“This has been intensive work,” Smith said. “We didn’t go out one or two times, but spent weeks really engaging with folks. We want to move people into resources and have the ability to do that. The enforcement is not just moving someone to the next building over.”
Since the pandemic, the number of people becoming homeless in Tulsa is greater than the number of unhoused people being placed into shelter.
“This is not a one-time effort and we’re done,” Smith said. “This is an ongoing, coordinated partnership. When new people come into homelessness, we have shelter space. If we find new areas of people sleeping outside, we can move forward with more intention and maintain the progress we’re making.”
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