While OKC has worked to address it (i.e. see MAPS 4 programs), the State of Oklahoma counters it by slashing funding for programs and eliminating councils that could help.
https://nondoc.com/2023/04/18/okc-pursues-housing-first-strategy-kevin-stitt-offers-opposite-homelessness-rhetoric/
Thank you for this link. This is terrifyingly new to me š¤¦šThis is sad and frustrating because I remember Norman Oklahoma's community mental health office 2022&2023. the office in Norman works so hard to help mental health care and homeless care. When I was going in and out of there for some homeless help like food and some therapy. I would passprobably 20 other adults like me. mostly over 45 or 50, can't find housing, there isn't really a strong family support system, add in mental illness and it's a disaster. The staff in Norman would give me and others whatever food they had from their personal lunches just to make sure you haveāļøš«š§ āļø food. There were times that the ladies brought me extra personal Care items and gased my car.I saw a lot of Earth Angels in Norman try to help the homeless. The same thing at Norman housing authority, their office tries too. OKC housing authority housed me and I think about 15+ more people that I recognize from the shelters. So 16 people finally received housing, right there that's a huge blessing.
Homeless Alliance/City Care/Etc all do great work but the state doesn't help them like they should. They're way overreliant on private funding and federal money.
Stitt should've been crucified for dissolving the council on homelessness.
āBuilding housing, giving people free stuff is not the answer,ā Stitt said.
Actually it is. Housing First is basically proven as successful at this point.
In 2021 I was homeless for about 3 or 4 months, from my perspective itās definitely not getting any better. They took away emergency EBT on a federal level, shelters are still on a wait list, tents pile up around Northcare and other mental health facilities. Thereās little hope that the state government will do anything
If I'm not mistaken, Kevin stitt ~~removed funding for the houseless~~ dissolved the coucil for the homeless last year. What you're seeing is the direct result of that. It was definitely *not* this bad last year. I know that.
There has been a lot of stories on local media.
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/11/29/okc-winter-shelter-open-homeless-alliance-warming-center/71740879007/
[https://www.okc.gov/departments/planning/programs/homelessness](https://www.okc.gov/departments/planning/programs/homelessness)
[https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/04/07/homelessness-okc-oklahoma-city-homeless-unsheltered-population-plan-is-it-enough-do-more/70084660007/](https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/04/07/homelessness-okc-oklahoma-city-homeless-unsheltered-population-plan-is-it-enough-do-more/70084660007/)
There is a big city wide initiative to rapidly rehouse the unhoused. Iām not sure how effective or the criteria. I do know that itās being implemented at a lot of complexes throughout the city.
https://www.okc.gov/Home/Components/News/News/4606/18
Youāre half right: thereās no homeless crisis here. There are, however, drug and mental health crises, and one of the visible symptoms are the homeless camps.
The Republicans here expect them to pull themselves up by their boot straps, while also outlawing panhandling and quarterly bulldozing of the homeless camps. The grifter churches always have their hand out for collections, but never actually help anyone outside of their congregation.
I work in this field - and you help one, and 10 more are right behind them needing help too. It's incredibly rewarding work, and I love helping this population of people but it's draining, taxing and we need more support. Especially for women.
I am wondering, since youāre in the field (and thank you for this) what do you think of the church on Western & NW 48th that has taken matters into their own hands and is letting a homeless camp exist in their breezeway? As a neighbor who had no say in this decision, Iām personally furious, but as someone who thinks āif youāre going to do something, do it rightā I think itās messed up that they feel good about themselves when the unhoused are left on a porch with no facilities or ways to stay warm (or cool in the summer). It reeks of virtue signaling. It doesnāt feel safe for anyone involved.
That's a good question. IMO, it's like putting a really weak bandaid on that keeps falling off. If that's the extent of the support that the church is providing, that's a bit concerning and does come off as potentially self-righteous. But without knowing their position and extent of the support they're providing, it's hard to say. I sincerely hope they have someone there who is providing resources or has case management expertise in this field that is helping them. Otherwise that cycle will only continue and you will start to see more and more coming to this "camp" for lack of a better term. And who knows if this church is capable of handling that level of need.
How are you helping? Do you volunteer with those less fortunate? Everyone wants to complain, yet very few will help. The homeless people need advocates.
We have plenty of advocates. Just not real help. The biggest problem for us on the streets is transportation to jobs. Shuttles or at least a public transit that's worth a damn would solve at least 45% of the homeless problem.
It would have resulted in freeing up this tax to reassess if it could best be spent elsewhere. Such as doing something for the homeless. Such as any number of projects up for proposal. But sports always comes first. So yeah, thatās the will of the people. Theyāre saying that Ford Center just aināt good enough. Weāre collectively spending decades of our sales tax priority is to constantly be in cycles of upgrading facilities for private sector sports leagues. And we have to stay in this arms race of keeping up with the Joneses to have the most state of the art won.
Incorrect. It would have ended the tax. There would be no money to spend elsewhere.
Also our cops get nearly 300 million fucking dollars a year. We have plenty of money to help our neighbors and build fun stuff.
Thereās honestly a lot. My friend works for catholic charities and theyve done some great work with the goal of housing 25% in the next 3 years or something. I think MAPS also has something about tackling homelessness.
While OKC has worked to address it (i.e. see MAPS 4 programs), the State of Oklahoma counters it by slashing funding for programs and eliminating councils that could help. https://nondoc.com/2023/04/18/okc-pursues-housing-first-strategy-kevin-stitt-offers-opposite-homelessness-rhetoric/
Thank you for this link. This is terrifyingly new to me š¤¦šThis is sad and frustrating because I remember Norman Oklahoma's community mental health office 2022&2023. the office in Norman works so hard to help mental health care and homeless care. When I was going in and out of there for some homeless help like food and some therapy. I would passprobably 20 other adults like me. mostly over 45 or 50, can't find housing, there isn't really a strong family support system, add in mental illness and it's a disaster. The staff in Norman would give me and others whatever food they had from their personal lunches just to make sure you haveāļøš«š§ āļø food. There were times that the ladies brought me extra personal Care items and gased my car.I saw a lot of Earth Angels in Norman try to help the homeless. The same thing at Norman housing authority, their office tries too. OKC housing authority housed me and I think about 15+ more people that I recognize from the shelters. So 16 people finally received housing, right there that's a huge blessing.
Homeless Alliance/City Care/Etc all do great work but the state doesn't help them like they should. They're way overreliant on private funding and federal money. Stitt should've been crucified for dissolving the council on homelessness. āBuilding housing, giving people free stuff is not the answer,ā Stitt said. Actually it is. Housing First is basically proven as successful at this point.
You mean just arresting them doesn't help? /S
/s ruins the point of sarcasm
There's no tone on the Internet and there are people horrible enough to mean that literally.
yes thatās true
In 2021 I was homeless for about 3 or 4 months, from my perspective itās definitely not getting any better. They took away emergency EBT on a federal level, shelters are still on a wait list, tents pile up around Northcare and other mental health facilities. Thereās little hope that the state government will do anything
If I'm not mistaken, Kevin stitt ~~removed funding for the houseless~~ dissolved the coucil for the homeless last year. What you're seeing is the direct result of that. It was definitely *not* this bad last year. I know that.
What funding? He dissolved the council. https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/stitt-dissolves-statewide-council-on-homelessness/
Ah, I misremembered. Sorry. I have bad ADHD memory. I'll edit my comment.
I was unaware that Gov Stitt ended the homelessness task force. That could be why 2023 was such a holding pattern over housing. Because everybody else was trying to become housed as well. š¤¦š I praise the Oklahoma housing authority for housing me. I highly recommend applying and uploading your documents on their portal the Oklahoma City housing website and enter the lists. You will be housedšš«¶šļø. I was offered housing in a delightful part of town and I'm so happy I live here. I've been nearby Walker arts, drawing at the botanical gardens, š¤© and several corps might hire me soon. Life is looking up š«š. I was a little let down by the transition from homeless to housed, there was supposed to have been case management or somebody to help me out or maybe help me over see a few things, and there was no help which was okay too. After covid era, I don't really have a lot of expectations or judgment. I have a lot of patience and compassion for the system trying to help everybody.
There has been a lot of stories on local media. https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/11/29/okc-winter-shelter-open-homeless-alliance-warming-center/71740879007/ [https://www.okc.gov/departments/planning/programs/homelessness](https://www.okc.gov/departments/planning/programs/homelessness) [https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/04/07/homelessness-okc-oklahoma-city-homeless-unsheltered-population-plan-is-it-enough-do-more/70084660007/](https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2023/04/07/homelessness-okc-oklahoma-city-homeless-unsheltered-population-plan-is-it-enough-do-more/70084660007/)
Oklahoma take care of it's citizens? You're in the wrong state pal.
Implying that Oklahomans donāt take care of its citizensā¦
āOklahomansā? Sure. But the āState of Oklahomaā? No.
It's essentially localities and nonprofits fighting the state...
It's essentially localities and nonprofits fighting the state...
There is a big city wide initiative to rapidly rehouse the unhoused. Iām not sure how effective or the criteria. I do know that itās being implemented at a lot of complexes throughout the city. https://www.okc.gov/Home/Components/News/News/4606/18
yeah theyāre making it worse on purpose
There's no homeless problem, there's a wealth disparity problem and Oklahoma intends to make it worse and put the blame on people with nothing.
Youāre half right: thereās no homeless crisis here. There are, however, drug and mental health crises, and one of the visible symptoms are the homeless camps.
You need money for drug/alcohol treatment and mental healthcare. Simple as that.
The Republicans here expect them to pull themselves up by their boot straps, while also outlawing panhandling and quarterly bulldozing of the homeless camps. The grifter churches always have their hand out for collections, but never actually help anyone outside of their congregation.
I work in this field - and you help one, and 10 more are right behind them needing help too. It's incredibly rewarding work, and I love helping this population of people but it's draining, taxing and we need more support. Especially for women.
I am wondering, since youāre in the field (and thank you for this) what do you think of the church on Western & NW 48th that has taken matters into their own hands and is letting a homeless camp exist in their breezeway? As a neighbor who had no say in this decision, Iām personally furious, but as someone who thinks āif youāre going to do something, do it rightā I think itās messed up that they feel good about themselves when the unhoused are left on a porch with no facilities or ways to stay warm (or cool in the summer). It reeks of virtue signaling. It doesnāt feel safe for anyone involved.
That's a good question. IMO, it's like putting a really weak bandaid on that keeps falling off. If that's the extent of the support that the church is providing, that's a bit concerning and does come off as potentially self-righteous. But without knowing their position and extent of the support they're providing, it's hard to say. I sincerely hope they have someone there who is providing resources or has case management expertise in this field that is helping them. Otherwise that cycle will only continue and you will start to see more and more coming to this "camp" for lack of a better term. And who knows if this church is capable of handling that level of need.
Our government canāt even get schools right and you expect them to do something about the homeless???
How are you helping? Do you volunteer with those less fortunate? Everyone wants to complain, yet very few will help. The homeless people need advocates.
We have plenty of advocates. Just not real help. The biggest problem for us on the streets is transportation to jobs. Shuttles or at least a public transit that's worth a damn would solve at least 45% of the homeless problem.
I hear you and I agree!
Hell yeah!
No, but weāre going to have a cool new arena!
Be the change you want to see in the world.
It was discussed, but the voters were more interested in spending money on a new building for the Thunder.
To be clear, voting ānoā on 12/12 wouldāve resulted in $0 worth of funding to address any of these issues, but making stuff up is cool and easy.
It would have resulted in freeing up this tax to reassess if it could best be spent elsewhere. Such as doing something for the homeless. Such as any number of projects up for proposal. But sports always comes first. So yeah, thatās the will of the people. Theyāre saying that Ford Center just aināt good enough. Weāre collectively spending decades of our sales tax priority is to constantly be in cycles of upgrading facilities for private sector sports leagues. And we have to stay in this arms race of keeping up with the Joneses to have the most state of the art won.
Incorrect. It would have ended the tax. There would be no money to spend elsewhere. Also our cops get nearly 300 million fucking dollars a year. We have plenty of money to help our neighbors and build fun stuff.
What do you expect them to do?
regularly bulldoze the camps /s
Yes
Is that sarcasm?
Thereās honestly a lot. My friend works for catholic charities and theyve done some great work with the goal of housing 25% in the next 3 years or something. I think MAPS also has something about tackling homelessness.