Planning director outlines $52 million budget, warns federal grant outlook uncertain

Planning Director Jeff Butler presented the planning department's fiscal year 2026 budget to the Oklahoma City Council, detailing a general fund request of about $6.9 million and major federally supported programs that sum to roughly $52 million in total resources for the department.

Butler said the housing and community development division receives the largest share of the department's resources through federal HUD grants and other competitive funding that supports homelessness, affordable housing construction, and neighborhood revitalization programs.

The presentation matters because the city relies on federal grants to operate housing services: Butler told the council the department manages roughly $41 million in HUD grant funds that support staff and programs, and he said those grant totals can fluctuate year to year.

Butler described several housing projects and program accomplishments, including Harmony Garvey Apartments (40 units, conversion of the Marcus Garvey School plus three new buildings), Hillcrest Green (LIHTC project), and the Murrow Revolving Loan Fund-supported mixed-use project "The Citizen." He also listed nine projects funded with Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, two of which are complete and several of which are under construction or nearing completion.

On homelessness, Butler outlined the Key to Home Partnership, a cross-sector initiative led by the city that embeds staff from the city manager's office, planning and police to coordinate more than 50 partner organizations and 17 work groups. Butler said the Encampment Rehousing Initiative, launched in September 2023, aims to bring services directly to encampments and house residents "in an expedited 6 weeks" when possible.

Butler gave outcome figures tied to the initiative: he reported 23 encampments closed; 370 people who had been sleeping outside housed with case-management support; 403 housing units secured; more than 1,600 contacts with street outreach teams; and that 88% of camp residents accepted housing and support. He said the initiative has coincided with a 43% reduction in the long-term unsheltered population targeted by the program since 2023.

Councilmembers asked whether federal grant reductions would threaten core programs such as Brownfields cleanup and housing rehabilitation. Butler replied, "Too early to tell," and said city staff are monitoring federal signals and have contacted local nonprofit partners to assess potential impacts.

Butler also walked the council through the department's sustainability and code-update work: the Office of Sustainability is pursuing an electric-vehicle study, solar assessments for city properties, a heat-vulnerability data set produced with volunteer mapping, and proposed zoning changes to support tree canopy and parking designs that reduce the urban-heat-island effect. He said the planning department will recommend changes to the parking ordinance and other code updates intended to support shade and healthier streets as part of larger development standards work.

Butler closed by describing performance measures used to evaluate homeless-program success, citing a HUD benchmark the city tracks: the percentage of formerly homeless individuals who remain in permanent housing for six months. He said Oklahoma City's six-month retention average since fiscal year 2016 is about 87%.

What happens next: the council was told the budget will be presented for adoption at the council's June 3 meeting. Butler and staff said they will return with follow-up information councilmembers requested, including comparative data about how peer cities fund homelessness services and any new information the city receives from federal grantors.

Ending note: Butler framed the budget as a mix of general-fund support for core planning functions and large, multi-year federal grants that create capital and programmatic capacity but carry renewal risk tied to federal appropriations and grant competitions.