In his press conference, he detailed his four points for ending homelessness by 2030.
Mayor Monroe Nichols signed an executive order making homelessness a priority for the Tulsa government in March. To meet his goal of “functional zero” homelessness in Tulsa by 2030, Nichols outlined four plans: establishing an “Encampment Decommissioning Team” to “safely and efficiently [move] unhoused individuals from their encampments to partner providers, provide encampment cleanup, and dissolve the site from further use;” creating a winter weather shelter to alleviate the “100% utilization of emergency shelter beds during severe weather events” from November through March; increasing shelter capacity and opening a “true low barrier shelter” to accept “people who might otherwise avoid or not be accepted into traditional shelters or transitional living facilities;” and creating a “Mayor’s Coalition on Eviction Mitigation” to “strengthen the City’s involvement in eviction prevention.”
The announcement is a welcome change from a city government that most Tulsans believed was improperly addressing the homelessness epidemic before Nichols took office. With so much work ahead, it is unlikely that the effects of these and similar plans will be fully realized for years, but this fact makes them no less important.
Notably, the plan details reasonable, easy-to-achieve first steps rather than attempting to solve the crisis in one stroke. Too often with issues such as homelessness, the scale of the measures needed to properly address the problem turns people off from even attempting to do so. By making headway early on with respect to homelessness, Mayor Nichols’ administration is setting Tulsa up for success.
The announcement did not detail the expected cost of these initiatives, but it is worth noting that the City of Tulsa does not plan to bear the full load. Local shelters, community organizations, and tribal partners are planning to assist the Tulsa government in each of the four projects. Even if taxpayers end up paying, the effects are likely to be marginal — if these plans cost as much per homeless person as New York City’s Department of Homeless Services does, which these plans do not, the average Tulsan would pay an extra $200 in taxes every year. Again, that is the worst-case scenario here: $200 a year to end homelessness. To put it another way, the total cost of ending homelessness would roughly equate to the amount of money Elon Musk makes in a day. Additionally, that is if Monroe Nichols’ plans are as expensive per person as New York City’s, where rent is more than slightly higher than in Tulsa.
Notably absent from the mayor’s strategy was any mention of the use of law enforcement. It is as if calling the police on society’s most vulnerable and forcing homeless people out of the public view is destructive for everyone involved. As it turns out, “out of sight, out of mind” does not work with human beings. Additionally, local police could be better used than as street sweepers for the wealthy and entitled. Sure, many homeless people struggle with addiction and many more have untreated mental disorders, but that is all the more reason to give them a proper place to stay! Additionally, many of the Tulsans who end up on the street are more the victims of high rent than they are of substance abuse. Luckily, the government’s plan includes measures to mitigate evictions citywide. Funny how that happens when your leaders are competent.
