Questions surrounding Hotel to Housing homeless program lead to new city requirements for funding

City Finance Director James Wagner told city councilors last week that such requirements could be placed in city contracts after Councilor Connie Dodson expressed concerns about how Housing Solutions’ Hotel to Housing program unfolded.

A Tulsa World story last week detailed the concerns of multiple former Housing Solutions employees who said the program failed to deliver on the promises the nonprofit made to the homeless and was beset by poor management.

Housing Solutions had hoped to provide permanent housing for 80% of the 342 people who entered the program, but only 84 received it. Another 54 went to positive or neutral destinations, and 30% of clients were connected with a permanent health care provider.

Housing Solutions has said the only reason more people weren’t housed was because of a lack of affordable housing.

The former Housing Solutions employees, meanwhile, described hotel operations as chaotic, with drug use, dog breeding and other illegal activities rampant.

“This was our first foray really into noncongregate shelters,” Wagner told councilors. “Typically, we fund congregate shelters like the Day Center ... so I think moving forward we can work into the grant agreements the expectations that we have with these noncongregate settings.”

Asked Friday whether he supported Wagner’s recommendation, Bynum said, “I fully support the recommendation.”

Becky Gligo, executive director of Housing Solutions, indicated Friday the recommendation would not present any problems for her organization.

“I said to James, and I would say to anyone, we will always comply with what the city requires of us, and we feel that we have,” Gligo said.

Housing Solutions is a collective of local organizations dedicated to ending homelessness. During the February freeze, the nonprofit led an effort to get the homeless population off the streets and into warm, safe temporary housing.

A few weeks later, in March, those same people were offered an opportunity to participate in the Hotel to Housing program at the old Wyndham Hotel near 41st Street and Garnett Avenue.

Gligo has said previously that she is proud of the work Housing Solutions did at the Hotel to Housing.

“I stand by fundamentally that housing is a basic human right and that we are going to continue to put people in housing and wrap services around them,” Gligo said.

Wagner’s remarks were made during a City Council discussion of a proposal to provide Housing Solutions with $392,500 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to establish another pet-friendly, low-barrier housing shelter this winter at the old Avalon building, 302 W. Archer St.

The city provided $140,000 to Housing Solutions for the Hotel to Housing program.

Dodson told her colleagues that based on what she’d read and had heard directly about how the Hotel to Housing was operated, she was concerned about Housing Solutions’ operating another low-barrier shelter.

“Should we consider having another organization run it?” Dodson said. “John 3:16, or somebody else who is already in that field?”

But Gligo had already addressed that issue, telling the Tulsa World that the organization has no intention of operating another hotel for the homeless and would subcontract out the operation of the new low-barrier shelter.

A few councilors at Wednesday’s meeting defended Housing Solutions and criticized how the story was handled by the Tulsa World.

“For the first time, we did what the public has been asking us to do — have a low-barrier shelter where you don’t have to jump through the hoops, just come in out of the cold,” said Councilor Kara Joy McKee.

She added: “There is a reason we gave (Housing Solutions employee) Tyler Parette a key to the city. There is a reason that whenever there is a problem I call Becky Gligo. I am not getting any heartburn over Housing Solutions having this. Not one bit, because I’ve worked with them, and I’ve seen the work they are doing.”

Councilor Lori Decter Wright praised Housing Solutions’ work and reminded her colleagues that the problems detailed in the Hotel to Housing story are not unique to the homeless population.

“Drug use, prostitution, pets fighting, all came with people that were coming out of apartments in much of the same ways as people coming off the streets,” Wright said. “... It has been a learning experience, and I think now more than ever we are primed to really move forward in mitigating homelessness in our community.”

The City Council eventually approved Housing Solutions’ request for funding for the new low-barrier shelter — with Dodson’s support. On Friday, she said she was glad to learn the city would be including operations standards in its funding contracts with organizations operating noncongregate shelters.

“We want to make sure standards are in place,” she said. “I mean, low barrier does not mean no barrier. When you have no barrier, then they have no expectations on behavior.”

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