Regardless of Rising Homelessness, Oklahoma Lawmakers Look to Punitive Measures

By Heather Warlick

Within the wee hours of Jan. 23, volunteers took to the frigid streets to seek out, depend and survey folks sleeping unsheltered in Norman. These volunteers not solely depend the homeless, but in addition register them into the Homeless Administration Data System to attach them with case staff for future help.

The Level in Time counts had been carried out concurrently in Tulsa, Oklahoma Metropolis, Lawton and Norman.

Latest Level in Time counts revealed a 25% improve in homelessness from 2023 to 2024 in Oklahoma. Throughout that interval, coalitions of service suppliers have actively been rehousing folks experiencing homelessness, however rising rents, shortages in low-income housing and rising eviction charges slash hope this 12 months’s depend will drop.

If proposed laws is a sign, some Oklahoma lawmakers plan to spend session time peddling payments aimed toward penalizing the greater than 4,000 Oklahomans experiencing homelessness in their very own communities.

Broadening Oklahoma’s Tenting Ban

HB 1764 by Rep. Dell Kerbs, R-Shawnee, amends the anti-camping legislation of 2024, increasing the ban to incorporate not simply state-owned property, but in addition county and city-owned lands.

Homeless folks violating this tenting ban would face the identical penalties as these charged with sleeping on state property: $50 fines and as much as 15 days in jail.

The 2024 laws that created the unique legal guidelines criminalizing sleeping on state-owned property was derived immediately from mannequin laws offered by The Cicero Institute, a conservative suppose tank in Austin influencing receptive states resembling Oklahoma.

Increasing the scope of the tenting ban aligns with The Cicero Institute’s marketing campaign. An article on the group’s web site touts the success the Austin group has loved in Oklahoma, stating: “This is Oklahoma, not Seattle or San Francisco—we do things differently here. When a neighbor is struggling, we offer a helping hand.”

The article continues, “Camping restrictions provide a path forward to positive change, one that is foreclosed under failed federal Housing First policies.”

A Norman ‘Dumpster Fire’

Senate Invoice 484, filed by Sen. Lisa Standrige, R-Norman, acquired nationwide media consideration and created native rivalry. The invoice would prohibit cities with fewer than 300,000 residents from utilizing municipal cash to help homeless providers resembling emergency shelters and meals banks.

Oklahoma solely has two cities with populations larger than 300,000 – Oklahoma Metropolis and Tulsa.

Standridge clarified that the invoice wouldn’t have an effect on the work of nonprofits and church buildings to offer providers to folks experiencing homelessness; it could solely dictate metropolis spending.

Standridge’s invoice immediately goals at her hometown shelter, A Buddy’s Home, which receives a big portion of its funding from town of Norman. It additionally appears to focus on Norman libraries.

Standridge spoke at a mid-January Unique Constitutional Rules Affecting Tradition assembly, explaining why she authored the invoice.

“This is a constituent bill from my town of Norman, which is absolutely a dumpster fire right now in what they’ve done to allow the homeless to establish a vagrant nation if you will,” Standridge instructed the OCPAC group.

“If you can imagine taking my son to the west side library and having to see a police officer stand at the door because of the vagrants that are camped out at all of the computers,” she stated.

Oklahoma Watch visited Norman Public Library West, the place eight patrons seemed to be homeless, with bundles of their private belongings. A pair learn quietly at yellow library tables whereas six used library computer systems.

A financial institution of kids’s computer systems sat empty. The library noticed its signature silence.

“We don’t have any policy against homeless people,” stated Michael Pierson, department supervisor at Norman Public Library West. “They can use the services just like everybody else does. They have library cards.”

He stated off-duty cops function safety guards throughout enterprise hours when he’s not current, however there are few issues.

A Tenuous Lease in Norman

Metropolis Care lately signed a six-month contract with town of Norman to take over operations of A Buddy’s Home, which has 52 beds. The Salvation Military is the one different shelter in Norman, with 35 beds.

Final 12 months’s Cleveland County Level in Time depend discovered 240 folks, together with 27 kids, sleeping outdoor or in a shelter, primarily in Norman.

Heidi Smith, director of the Thunderbird Clubhouse, the lead administrative company for the Cleveland County Continuum of Care, stated that whereas Norman has a superb community of social service nonprofits, they’re all the time underfunded and under-resourced.

A Friends House A gaggle of individuals experiencing homelessness take refuge from rain on a patio exterior A Buddy’s Home, a Norman emergency shelter. (Heather Warlick/Oklahoma Watch)

“The biggest thing that I’ve heard from people who want to defund homelessness issues is that the churches and nonprofits, they want to step up and operate shelters,” Smith stated. “I don’t know of any church or any nonprofit that’s not already doing the very best they can with very limited resources.”

With out metropolis funding, Smith stated, A Buddy’s Home would lose 75% of its capability.

Rachel Freeman, CEO of Metropolis Care, stated Norman Mayor Larry Heikkila needs to see A Buddy’s Home closed down. She stated town has additionally been discussing relocating the shelter to the Griffin Hospital grounds within the close to future.

That’s why Metropolis Care signed a comparatively brief six-month lease with Norman, Freeman stated.

At a current mayoral debate, Heikkila stated he favors Standridge’s invoice and that Norman can’t afford to proceed supporting town’s homeless inhabitants.

His opponents, Stephen Tyler Holman and Riley Mulinix, stated they oppose the invoice. Mulinix referred to as it heartless; Holman stated Norman doesn’t need the state telling town what to do.

Concern in Lawton for Cross-By means of Funding

Most rural cities in Oklahoma haven’t any homeless shelters, city-funded or nonprofit. Even suburban Yukon has only a few social providers for folks experiencing homelessness.

The place shelters do exist, resembling Lawton’s Household Promise, they’re typically funded wholly, or largely, by federal grants and contracts with the federal authorities. That cash comes from the U.S. Treasury to HUD, FEMA and different federal businesses.

The cash is then despatched both to county-level businesses main the native continuums of care, or to metropolis governments to be disbursed or handed by way of to service suppliers.

Ross crop At Norman Public Library West, folks experiencing homelessness work at laptop terminals. (Heather Warlick/Oklahoma Watch)

Sarah Svec stated she is worried that SB 484 may have an effect on the pass-through funding and in-kind donations she is determined by to function Lawton’s Household Promise 16-bed shelter.

“The county owns my building, and as an in-kind donation, we get to stay here without paying rent,” Svec stated. “So those kinds of things definitely affect me.”

Rural service deserts haven’t any shelters and only a few providers out there, however homelessness in rural areas is completely different than in city areas, Svec stated.

“I think the taxpayers should have the opportunity to say where they want their dollars to go,” Sven stated. “I think (Standridge) probably doesn’t know anything except for numbers.”

Oklahoma Watch referred to as and emailed Standridge and her assistant a number of instances for remark, however acquired no response.

Standridge instructed OCPAC she had acquired hate emails in regards to the invoice from folks experiencing homelessness.

“I think if you have the wherewithal to understand this bill, to hear it, to go to the library and email me about it then I think you have what it takes to maybe hold down a job,” Standridge instructed the OCPAC group.

Information reveals that between 40% and 60% of individuals experiencing homelessness have jobs.

Freeman stated that in the course of the first weeks after taking on A Buddy’s Home, Metropolis Care is engaged on connecting Norman’s unhoused inhabitants with supportive housing.

She needs the Oklahoma Legislature to know that offering supportive housing to unhoused Oklahomans is 50% cheaper than the prices incurred by service suppliers combating the consequences of homelessness.

“It’s not even just a moral issue, if that doesn’t ring the bell for you,” she stated. “It’s a fiscal one. It’s fiscally responsible to support our community’s most vulnerable neighbors.”

This text first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished right here below a Inventive Commons license. PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: perform() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://oklahomawatch.org/2025/02/03/despite-growing-homelessness-oklahoma-lawmakers-look-to-punitive-measures/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } }

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“Oklahoma Watch, at oklahomawatch.org, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that covers public-policy issues facing the state.” with Inventive Commons License

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Picture credit score: Casey Brantley, a Norman man experiencing homelessness, sits alone in a area close to A Buddy’s Home emergency shelter in Norman. A invoice earlier than the Oklahoma legislature would largely defund the Norman shelter. (Heather Warlick/Oklahoma Watch)

The publish Regardless of Rising Homelessness, Oklahoma Lawmakers Look to Punitive Measures appeared first on The Good Males Venture.

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