Tulsa, Ok — The Executive Order released yesterday reflects a flawed understanding of homelessness, mental health, and substance use disorder. It promotes criminalization and fear-based policies rather than addressing the real drivers of homelessness: poverty, lack of affordable housing, and gaps in access to care.

In Tulsa, we see these realities every day. Our 2025 Point-in-Time Count found that of the Tulsans experiencing homelessness surveyed during our 2025 Point-in-Time Count, 45% reported having a mental health condition and 26% reported substance use. These challenges are real and deserve serious, compassionate solutions. We cannot arrest, incarcerate, or ticket our way to a healthier Tulsa. People need a safe, stable place to live before they can begin to heal.

Housing First does not mean housing only. It’s an evidence-based approach that combines stable housing with supportive services, helping people more effectively address other challenges in their lives. This combination strengthens the impact of other interventions and supports long-term housing stability for individuals and families.

While this Executive Order misdiagnoses the problem, Tulsa continues to focus on what works. Housing Solutions and our partner agencies that make up A Way Home for Tulsa, a collaboration of more than 60 organizations working to prevent and end homelessness, are already implementing many of the interventions this policy references:

– Connecting people to care through Coordinated Street Outreach teams that include mental health professionals from Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.

– Partnering with Alternative Courts and diversion programs through housing navigation programs that have helped reduce new convictions by 97% across participants.

– Helping people access the full spectrum of mental health and substance use treatment options within our community and supporting their successful recovery with housing.

– Rehousing individuals living in encampments, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office, City of Tulsa and Tulsa Police Department, while also working to return spaces to public use.

What’s missing in this Executive Order is the acknowledgement that providing services, care, and effective solutions requires resources. Federal funding sources from HUD and SAMHSA are critical to Tulsa’s ongoing efforts to help people experiencing homelessness return to housing and stay housed permanently. We need more federal resources to scale up these programs that are already working for the people we have the funds to assist.

We also reject the harmful narrative that homelessness is a threat to public safety. As of April 2025, only about 2 percent of Tulsa’s unhoused population appears on the Oklahoma sex offender registry. While some individuals may have a history of justice system involvement, most are not a threat to public safety. In fact, research shows that people experiencing homelessness are far more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators. They are our neighbors, facing compounding financial and health challenges in the absence of support.

We cannot solve homelessness with forced treatment or detention. The solutions are clear: we need housing people can afford, services people can access, and policies that center health, safety, and dignity.

We are committed to approaches that expand access to care, strengthen community-based support, and build lasting housing stability. We will continue working toward a community where everyone has the support they need to thrive.