Kevin Canfield
Tulsa World Staff Writer
The city has selected City Lights Foundation of Oklahoma to operate a long-awaited low-barrier shelter for the homeless.
The organization has for more than a decade provided services to the city’s homeless population.
It is perhaps best known for Night Light Tulsa, a weekly outreach program it operates under a highway bridge just northwest of downtown.
The city’s Standards, Specifications and Awards Committee’s action Thursday morning sets in motion a negotiation period with City Lights.
The city has yet to secure a facility for the shelter and has not announced when it will open.
The 24/7 noncongregate shelter will serve 50 to 75 households, according to a request for proposals issued late last year.
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A “household” could be a single person, a married couple or a family.
Low-barrier shelters are designed for those individuals who otherwise would not be able to access a traditional shelter due to substance abuse, mental health problems or other factors.
The program, which will include case management services, is intended to resolve the root causes of each person’s homelessness and to help locate and prepare that person for permanent housing within 120 days, according to the city’s request for proposals.
City Lights Foundation Executive Director Sarah Grounds said her organization’s more than decadelong work with the homeless gives it a “very realistic view into the gaps and needs of our city and those in the margins.”
“City Lights has consistently stepped in through outreach, case management, temporary housing, housing stability services, and is working towards permanent housing,” Grounds said.
“After seeing the impact of running the City Lights Hotel for medically vulnerable Tulsans experiencing homelessness during the pandemic, and housing over 120 people from that program, we were excited for the opportunity to provide that same support and care to others while also continuing our other efforts.”
Grounds noted that Tulsa is hundreds of shelter beds short.
“Providing low-barrier, non-congregate, temporary housing while working towards permanent housing will fill a huge gap within our community,” she said. “This will serve individuals experiencing homelessness that are not able to access our current shelters for a variety of reasons. This can be anything from medical and mental health needs that cannot be met in congregate settings, to individuals that have a pet with them.”
Thursday’s announcement comes more than a year after Mayor G.T. Bynum announced the city’s intent to open a low-barrier shelter. The city has acknowledged that the process has taken longer than expected, in part because only one organization responded to the initial RFP.
City Lights was one of two service providers to submit a response to the city’s latest RFP. The other was MedCross.org.
“I am eager to open Tulsa’s low-barrier shelter in partnership with the proven team at City Lights,” Bynum said in a statement Thursday. “Working together, we will get more Tulsans off the streets and connect them with people who can give them the compassion and assistance they need to get back on their feet.”
The city has committed to using federal funding to support the first three years of the shelter’s operations, including facility acquisition and any building renovations or site preparation that might be needed.
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