Debunking a myth: Denver isn't sending its homeless to Tulsa by bus

One version of it, which continues to circulate, holds that a busload of homeless individuals were once shipped from Denver and dropped off in downtown Tulsa.

“I’ve been hearing that one for at least 15 years,” Brose said.

To date, he’s seen zero evidence that it or any other of stories of busing the homeless are true.

Tulsa Day Center CEO Mack Haltom is also familiar with the Denver story. He’s equally skeptical.

“So they arrive at the bus station — where would they go first? They would come right here (to the Day Center). This would be the first place they would come, and I’d be calling the Tulsa World.”

Brose calls the stories “urban myths,” and he’s long since debunked them to his own satisfaction.

Brose has met and talked to thousands of homeless individuals over the years, and almost always they are from Tulsa.

“I always ask where they’re from, where they went to school, things like that. They’ll say ‘I went to Hale,’ or ‘I dropped out’ and I’ll ask where they went to middle school.

“I just think it’s a good way to engage someone, but also I’m anecdotally curious. I’m always looking to challenge this urban myth.”

“In our business, we take that stuff very seriously,” Brose added. “We don’t transport people around and get rid of our homeless that way. Nobody does that.”

Frustrated by the story, he issued a standing challenge a few years ago.

“If anyone comes up with a name or organization that has been busing their homeless to Tulsa, get me that information.

“I’m still waiting,” he added.

Debunking a myth: Most of Tulsa's homeless are not from out of town. They're from here

He still has more gums than teeth at this point.

But for 9-month-old Myka, that’s not a good reason not to smile.

While waiting with his mother, Mauv Beavers, last week at Tulsa Day Center, his grin was so big not even his pacifier could hide it.

“I just want to do what I can for him to have a better life,” Beavers said of her son, unable to hold back the tears as he played on her lap.

Homelessness is not new to Beavers, who’s experienced it two or three other times in her life, she said. The first was at around age 12, when her family couldn’t keep up with its house payments.

But this time, with a child of her own, it’s hitting much harder.

After securing emergency housing for herself and Myka at the Day Center, Beavers said her next priority would be to find day care so she can get back to work. She has a job at a local department store and it’s important that she keep it.

‘Our neighbors’

Born and raised in Tulsa and an Edison High School graduate, Beavers is not alone in those kinds of concerns, which are common among Tulsa’s homeless.

And she shares at least one other thing with that population: Her first experience with homelessness came right here in Tulsa.

Out of over 850 respondents on a recent survey, 73% indicated that they first became homeless in Tulsa County. The survey was part of the annual Point in Time count effort, which is conducted every January to provide a snapshot of the homelessness situation in the area.

For the local organizations that serve the homeless, that result is not big news.

Haltom, for one, has it affirmed for him every day through the people who come to the center seeking shelter and services.

“They are our neighbors,” he said.

But it might be news to some in the community, where a perception continues to exist: the idea that Tulsa has become a homelessness “importer.”

Local organizations and advocates say they still hear it often — that homelessness is increasing in the city because homeless individuals are coming here from elsewhere, drawn by word of the city’s range and quality of services.

But there’s a big problem with that notion, Haltom said.

“It’s a total myth,” he said.

A myth everywhere

Recent moves suggest Tulsa is taking homelessness more seriously than ever.

Among other efforts, a strategy was introduced last week to address the city’s housing shortage, including the needs of the homeless and low-income Tulsans.

Still, advocates say, the myth about homelessness’ origins persists, seemingly too ingrained to be vanquished.

According to Mark Smith, new CEO of Housing Solutions, Tulsa is far from unique in that, though.

He has encountered the myth in every community where he’s worked in homelessness, including most recently in Houston.

“I think it’s some part of our human psychology to not want to believe that this can happen to people that we know in our community. Every community, I think, wants to believe that they take care of their own,” said Smith, whose organization leads a collective of agencies working to address homelessness in Tulsa.

Perpetuating the myth has consequences, though, he added.

“Unfortunately, we deny I think some of the struggles that our friends and family and neighbors are experiencing. I think it is also a way of trying to maybe release culpability that we have as a community to do something about it.”

It doesn’t help perceptions that — both in Tulsa and nationally — homelessness is definitely on the increase, as indicated by the annual PIT counts.

Except for 2021, the count in Tulsa has risen every year for the last decade, with this year’s representing the biggest jump yet. It identified 1,427 homeless persons in Tulsa, a 26% increase.

But the voluntary survey that accompanied it provides insight that should serve to correct some myths, officials said.

The question about where they first experienced homelessness was answered by 852 of 1,200 survey respondents.

This year’s 73% is consistent with the recent trend, which in 2022 saw a peak of 74% report they first experienced homelessness in Tulsa.

A decade ago, it ranged in the low to mid-60s, but in 2020 began to climb.

Smith said the recent increase is almost certainly tied to the steep rise in rent and housing costs.

In fact, survey respondents cited lack of affordable housing as the primary issue behind their homelessness.

Additionally, 23% reported that they were employed at the time of the survey.

Harmful to efforts

Homelessness is a complex issue.

Addiction, mental illness and criminal activity are all part of the equation in Tulsa, as in other cities, creating a knotty problem for local officials.

But while acknowledging its complexity, advocates say perpetuating myths about who the homeless are and where they come from is not only unhelpful, it’s harmful.

For one thing, it distracts from the real drivers of the problem, Brose said, such as “evictions and shortage of affordable housing.”

Also, if it’s believed that local agencies are effectively increasing homelessness by drawing it from elsewhere, “it makes people question ‘do I want to give or donate to these nonprofits,” Brose said.

Ultimately, that can only impair those organizations’ ability to provide their services.

Living in the woods

Among the many Tulsans who’ve benefited from those services is Randy Hulbert.

He doesn’t know what he would’ve done without them, in fact, especially nonprofit City Lights of Oklahoma.

Hulbert, 66, won’t say that he’s always made the best choices in life. Past issues with alcohol and gambling contributed to his initial loss of housing.

But through it all, Hulbert was determined to maintain his independence.

Several years ago, he moved into a tent in a secluded wooded area. With a bicycle to get around, he was able to keep his job. He cooked his meals on a Coleman grill.

What was supposed to be only a temporary experience turned into over a decade, as Hulbert endured even the harshest winters to avoid the costs of pursuing permanent housing.

But in 2021 Hulbert was diagnosed with throat cancer. Suddenly, going it on his own was no longer an option.

“That was rough,” he said. “No one wants to hear they’ve got cancer. Especially when you’re by yourself.”

City Lights stepped in for Hulbert, providing him a place to stay and other services during treatment and recovery.

Things are looking up for him now. He’s been cancer-free for over two years. He’s working, and has left the woods behind for the Pioneer Plaza apartments.

City Lights helped him apply for public housing and vouchers, and keeps up with his progress through its housing stability program.

Staying where they are

To be sure, there are homeless individuals who come come to Tulsa from outside the state. But it’s almost never because they’ve heard about Tulsa’s services, advocates say.

That, too, is a myth that Smith has encountered in other places.

It’s true that if someone is from a small or rural community, they might choose to migrate to the nearest larger city, Smith said. But the vast majority of people who are experiencing homelessness stay in the area where they first lost housing, he added.

“They are in this constant minute-to-minute effort of just trying to figure out how to get by — where they’re going to eat and where they’ll sleep tonight.”

For most, travel and the resources required are “just not a reality.”

And for those who do leave where they are, it’s usually to go where they have family, Smith said.

Brose and others say they still hold out hope that false perceptions about the homeless can be overcome.

“If we can ever change that perception, help people see that these are my friends, neighbors, family members, that could change everything,” Brose said. “Then we’ll really own it, right?”

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