If passed, the bill would allow for only two municipalities to operate homeless shelters.
An Oklahoma Senate bill currently in committee would, if passed, ban homeless services in most of the state. The bill, known as SB-484, would prevent any city with a population less than 300,000 from providing “programs or services to homeless persons.” This includes leasing land for a homeless shelter. The bill’s author, Sen. Lisa Standridge, plans to modify it after the Senate comes to session on Monday, Feb. 3.
The bill came under immediate criticism from homeless advocates, news organizations including the Tulsa World editorial board, and some state legislators. Among all the criticism, one question was repeatedly asked: How does SB-484 help Oklahoma?
The short answer is: it does not. SB-484 is not designed to benefit Oklahomans; it certainly would not assist the 200 homeless people in Cleveland County where Sen. Standridge’s district is located. It is a political ploy, a signed letter of fealty to the far-right agenda of the Trump Administration.
As Tulsa Day Center CEO Mack Haltom rightly pointed out, “Homelessness has never been and isn’t limited by the size of a city.” Of the roughly 4,000 homeless people in Oklahoma, more than 500 live in cities that could not legally assist them if SB-484 passes. Without anywhere to legally take shelter, hundreds of people will then be forced onto city streets and into public places. Individuals and private organizations would be forced to take matters into their own hands to assist them.
SB-484 was not the product of small-government conservatism. Its goal is not to highlight the importance of charity. It serves a darker political purpose.
The bill is probably not motivated by a desire to help homeless people. In fact, it will likely turn society’s most vulnerable demographic into a political weapon to win elections. The process is simple to follow. First, the Oklahoma Legislature will prevent small cities from housing homeless people. Over time, visible homelessness will make people uncomfortable; eventually, the public will clamor for change. They will not care what happens to the homeless so long as they are taken out of sight. Police will then imprison the homeless for “unauthorized camping” — an action designated as a crime by Kevin Stitt last year to allegedly fix the homeless problem. Finally, the original goal of criminalizing homelessness will be achieved and no one will be mad about it.
Oklahoma’s state leadership is operating as a mirror of the Trump administration. To the national GOP, government is not about improving the country that it now governs, but rather punishing groups that do not align with its increasingly far-right ideas. Oklahoma lawmakers seem more than willing to toe the line, advancing bills about immigration (HB-4156), against gender affirmation (SB-1677) and now the homeless, a demographic that Trump has considered imprisoning en masse. This will not change until Oklahomans realize that Republican lawmakers, by and large, do not represent the beliefs of their own voters. The GOP is using Americans’ biases to enrich its leaders. It is time the people, as citizens of Oklahoma and the United States, did something about it.
