By Fox23.com News Staff
TULSA, Okla. — Safe Move Tulsa said they’ve successfully closed two additional encampments in the Tulsa area and were able to move 13 people into housing.
“We’re announcing the closure of two more encampments, which brings us up to five encampments closed across Tulsa with 68 people moving into housing and receiving ongoing case management and support services,” said Mark Smith, the CEO of Housing Solutions.
Smith said the goal of Housing Solutions is to close encampments in a way that properly supports the people who have been living in them.
“I think we’ve seen that displacement when it comes to addressing encampments doesn’t really solve the root of the problem. People need a place to live. Many of the folks who are in encampments don’t have other options and so when we just close the site without offering resolution, we just move that challenge and those people who are in need of support into another part of the community, onto private property, into business areas. It only deepens the problem, deepens the crisis for those individuals [and] for the community at large. This way of being able to return public and private property to its intended use while also providing the people who live in those encampments with support to get back into housing, start to work towards recovery, is really important and that’s how we actually start to reduce unsheltered homelessness, end street sleeping and we also help our community become healthier and safer.”
Smith said Housing Solutions is still in Phase One of its plan to end homelessness in Tulsa.
“We have a goal here across Phase One to rehouse 300 people who have been experiencing long-term homelessness, many of them in encampments. We have more work to do all across our city. We’re also working for the people who have experienced a crisis, have lost their housing and shelter. What can we do as a community to help them springboard back into housing faster? We’re working with some of our shelter provider partners to start the work of identifying those folks that with just a little bit of support could exit shelters sooner, be stable and then open up a shelter bed for the next person that really needs it. Again, we’re creating more space and less street sleeping across our community, so that’s the next step.”
Safe Move Tulsa has also just launched a website that will allow the public to learn more about the organization’s progress and goals for the future.
To access the website, click here.
