Tulsans were given the opportunity Tuesday to share their concerns about the city’s homelessness crisis and thoughts about what should be done about it.
They did not let it go to waste.
“‘Not in my backyard’ — that is not going to work, guys,” James Johnson said during the first public meeting of Mayor G.T. Bynum’s Housing, Homelessness & Mental Health Task Force.
Johnson, 61, said he lost his home and business during the COVID-19 pandemic and is still without permanent housing.
“Do I look homeless?” he asked as he spoke to the large crowd gathered at OU Tulsa’s Schusterman Learning Center.
Johnson said the most important thing the city can do to address homelessness is to educate and provide information to those trying to secure permanent housing.
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“I watch people who cannot live by themselves getting into houses that they are going to be there (briefly), and they are going to be right back on the street,” Johnson said.
Steven Watts, CEO of Rose Rock Development Partners, praised Bynum’s $500 million housing challenge but cautioned that the city must do more than put roofs over people’s heads.
“I think it is important that we talk about housing but also how can we support those from the homeless population who might be transitioning into housing so they are not back on the streets,” Watts said.
The task force was created by Bynum as part of his pledge that the city would become more involved in finding solutions to the seemingly intractable problem.
Bynum said three factors have contributed to the uptick in homelessness in the last few years: a decrease in shelter space caused by COVID-19 spacing requirements, an increase in evictions, and a mental health crisis precipitated in part by the pandemic.
The task force’s mission is to gather information and community input to better understand the issue, Bynum said, and then to use the tools the city has — policies and ordinances, convening and educating, and funding — to create a long-term strategy that will enhance the work being done by service providers.
“We have a lot to learn,” Bynum said at the start of the meeting. “I cannot stress that enough.”
Barbara Hathcock said she lost a son to suicide and lamented what might have been had the right help been available and effective.
That needs to be at the forefront of any solution to homelessness, she said.
“Let’s get the systems in place first,” Hathcock said, “ because they are not working right now.”
The task force is focused on the relationship between mental illness and homelessness.
Zack Stoycoff, one of the panelists at Tuesday night’s meeting and a task force member, spoke about the issue in a broader context.
Stoycoff, executive director of Healthy Minds Policy Initiative, noted that more people in Tulsa die from suicide than die from homicides.
“The bigger solution to this problem is that we have really built a mental health system in this country that is disconnected, stigmatized and not accessible for people,” he said.
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Of 1,063 surveyed, 22% were employed yet experiencing homelessness, and 86% became homeless in Oklahoma.
