Homelessness

Be Heard: Urge Lawmakers to Protect Proven Solutions for Homelessness

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As we conclude our Early and Often series, we’re focusing on how your voice can ensure that Oklahomans experiencing homelessness have access to consistent, compassionate, and effective services that truly build stability, health, and hope. Misinformation about homelessness, and even about those working every day to address it, is spreading quickly. As state legislators prepare […]

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The Power of Partnership: Inside Oklahoma’s Interim Study on Homelessness

Leave a Comment / Advocacy, Homelessness, Housing, Point in Time Count, Street Outreach /

Legislators, nonprofit leaders, and law enforcement recently came together at the Oklahoma State Capitol for an interim study addressing homelessness in our state. Interim studies allow lawmakers to explore issues impacting Oklahomans by hearing directly from experts, service providers, advocates, and those with lived experience. They also offer an early look at potential legislation for

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When Should You Contact Your State Legislators? Early & Often.

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For Oklahomans who care deeply about improving outcomes for our neighbors, especially those experiencing homelessness or mental illness, recent news has been hard to hear. The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services recently announced $40 million in cuts to service providers, ending nearly 300 contracts with organizations statewide. Just days later, Governor

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A Fresh Start: Charan Apartments Renovated to Support Housing Stability in Tulsa

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At Mental Health Association Oklahoma (MHAOK), a cornerstone of our mission is to provide clean, safe, and affordable housing for individuals and families in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Today, MHAOK owns and manages more than 1,300 rental units—about a quarter of which are home to people engaged in our programming. Thanks to a generous grant

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Rapid Response team in the field

Housing, Not Handcuffs: A Call to Rethink ‘Operation SAFE’

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Last week, Governor Stitt announced Operation SAFE (Swift Action for Families Everywhere)—a new initiative aimed at Tulsa’s unhoused population. The plan enacts 64 OK Stat § 1097, a statute created through the passage of State Bill 1854 in 2024, which restricts camping on state-owned land. Through Operation SAFE, Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers will issue warnings

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Statement from CEO, Carrie Blumert, on Operation SAFE

Leave a Comment / Homelessness, Mental Health News, Uncategorized /

As a street outreach and housing service provider in the Tulsa area, we are extremely concerned by Governor Stitt’s “Operation SAFE” program that does nothing to address the root cause of homelessness.   Each day, our outreach teams engage with Oklahomans experiencing homelessness and work tirelessly to get them into housing, connected with healthcare, and find

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Statement from CEO, Carrie Blumert, on Recent Executive Order

Leave a Comment / Homelessness, Mental Health News, Uncategorized /

The Executive Order issued on July 24, 2025 regarding homelessness and mental health treatment includes many directives that cause us concern. Extensive evidence has shown that when we prioritize safe and stable housing—and combine it with voluntary and personalized access to resources and treatment—homelessness can be brief and nonrecurring. Policies that criminalize homelessness only increase

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Responding to the Executive Order on Homelessness: What the Evidence Really Says

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On July 24, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order on homelessness and mental health treatment, an action which raises serious concerns for those working on the front lines of housing and mental health. Among the directives are proposals that would expand the involuntary commitment of individuals experiencing homelessness, mental illness, substance use disorder,

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Relentless Compassion: How Street Medicine Helped Mr. P Find His Way Home 

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In Oklahoma, hundreds of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness live in places most of us overlook: under bridges, in encampments, or even on a bus bench. For these neighbors, access to health care often feels impossible. But at Mental Health Association Oklahoma (MHAOK), we believe that health care is a human right, no matter where you

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When Suffering Becomes Policy: Oklahoma’s Eviction Crisis

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Over 48,000 evictions were filed in Oklahoma in 2024. Whether or not these cases resulted in displacement, the harm begins the moment an eviction is filed. Evictions aren’t just legal proceedings—they are traumatic events with lasting consequences. Workers who experience an eviction are 22% more likely to lose their jobs. In the year following an

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