UPDATE: The Tulsa City Council voted on Wednesday to approve the $6 million ‘Safe Move Tulsa’ initiative.
The plan will pay rent for 300 homeless people and families.
Councilor Carol Bush clarified in the council meeting, “There are checks and balances; this isn’t just a blank check.”
Councilor Bush said these funds are technically not tax dollars, but some rules and checks and balances ensure the money is appropriated to the benefit of taxpayers.
Other Council members and the mayor suggested potentially holding quarterly check-ins on the program’s expenditures, which Mayor Nichols supported; however, no action has been taken from this discussion yet.
The plan passed unanimously at the City’s 5 p.m. meeting.
ORIGINAL STORY: Tulsa City Councilors met to discuss homelessness and unveiled a new initiative to reduce the number of individuals living on the streets and in shelters.
The Mayor’s Senior Advisor for Homelessness Emily Hall,, spoke at the Public Works Committee meeting today to announce the “Safe Move Tulsa” initiative.
The $6 million initiative will reallocate money from an opioid settlement and pandemic relief funds to provide access to stable housing, financial resources, heath care, substance abuse support, and education.
Hall said there are over 1,400 homeless people in Tulsa, with 900 sheltered and more than 450 unsheltered. The shelters are at 100% capacity.
The initiative looks to immediately house around 300 sheltered and unsheltered individuals, and they hope to reach functional zero homelessness by 2030. The city has 300 units available to start the initiative.
Sign Up
