Watch Now: Mayor announces homelessness aid proposal amid criticism of city's handling of population under bridge

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum will present a budget amendment to city councilors that upon approval would fund — among other needs — hotel stays for residents experiencing homelessness, his office announced Sunday.

The announcement came amid criticism of the city’s handling of the winter weather-related relocation of a group of unhoused Tulsans living under a downtown bridge.

Local nonprofit organization Tulsa Food Not Bombs alleged this weekend that the city forced the residents under the Maybelle Avenue bridge, in the area of the Inner Dispersal Loop, to leave for another shelter and seized a large quantity of firewood the group solicited through donations.

Though Bynum did not directly respond to the group by name, he posted an update to his Facebook page Sunday morning to discourage what he described as “well-intentioned but misguided volunteer groups complicating their efforts to get people indoors” to avoid sub-freezing temperatures after one person died last week.

Similarly, the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency sought to dispel what it deemed “rumors going around social media that the City of Tulsa is destroying homeless camps.”

TAEMA acknowledged firewood and fire pits were removed from the encampment but said it was because everyone there relocated to another shelter and authorities determined the materials “represented a long term fire risk to the community.”

Tulsa Fire Department officials, according to city spokeswoman Michelle Brooks, said part of the issue was the logs were too large to fit into fire pits or chimeneas. The city also said the volume of firewood brought to the area meant it was no longer a manageable fire-safe location, which met the legal threshold for intervention from TFD.

Previously, the Fire Department provided watch for small fire pits and, according to TAEMA, “attempted to facilitate the community remaining in their location.”

“Other than the wood, the decision was made not to remove their personal possessions and those personal items are still at the campsite,” TAEMA wrote.

But it contended providing fire pits and firewood posed a greater safety risk because such behaviors could discourage residents from leaving for safer shelter, which Tulsa Food Not Bombs denied.

“Our goal is to keep people as safe and healthy as possible, and being inside is clearly the ideal means of doing so. That was never the debate,” Tulsa Food Not Bombs said about the situation in a statement obtained by the Tulsa World Sunday evening.

“The issue is that we have never been and will never be in the business of taking people’s autonomy. There are numerous reasons why folks on the streets do not trust the city, do not trust the police, and do not want to go to shelters, especially when the overflow shelter is a former detention facility (Tulsa Transitional Center.)”

Housing Solutions Executive Director Becky Gligo said her organization, along with allies such as Tulsa Food Not Bombs, has worked to establish relationships with those who live under the Maybelle Avenue bridge to communicate the importance of seeking shelter indoors.

She said her group offered access to the former transitional center for housing before opting to help place people into hotel rooms, and that the Red Cross is now expected to set up an outreach site in the previous location.

Tulsa Food Not Bombs, though, noted in its post that the prospect of being relegated to a former correctional facility did not appeal to many of the Maybelle Bridge inhabitants.

“We respect a person’s right to be outside and we know how complex a person’s journey experiencing homelessness is, and they may not want to go inside,” Gligo said, noting the worries people share about their possessions or about interactions with law enforcement.

In a news release Sunday evening, the city said Bynum would propose a budget amendment that would contribute $130,000 in CARES Act funds to Housing Solutions, which would pay for hotel stays over the coming months pending work with A Way Home For Tulsa partners to find permanent housing. The fund would also assist people with rent, security deposits and other housing-related costs.

Bynum and the city encouraged those wanting to assist to donate to Housing Solutions, The Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless, John 3:16 Mission or The Salvation Army.

“The thing that I really want to convey is that there are so many moving parts and so many people doing incredible work right now. We are here to stand with and work with anybody,” Gligo said of the situation. “Our number one concern these next few days is to get as many people inside as possible.”

Despite this, Gligo maintains there is still space available in Tulsa for anyone who needs a place to stay, and reported local hotels have been receptive to their efforts.

“This is tough and these conversations are tough. But Tulsa has never stood up for people experiencing homelessness in the way they are now,” she said.

“I think everyone who brought and donated firewood did it with the intention of keeping people safe and alive, which is our objective too. No one’s been turned away from a hotel through us. No one is going to be forced to be outside.”

Photos: Winter storm blasts Tulsa