Housing solutions officials outline rising homelessness, point to lack of affordable housing and HUD funding risks

Erin Velez, chief of staff at Housing Solutions, and Amy Olsen, Continuum of Care director at Housing Solutions, told the Tulsa Women's Commission on Feb. 7 that Tulsa’s most recent point-in-time and system-use data show homelessness rising and a severe mismatch between need and available permanent housing.

Velez said the most recent point-in-time count interviewed nearly 1,400 people in a single night — about a 23% increase from the prior year — and that unsheltered, visible homelessness is spreading beyond downtown to other parts of the city. She said about 81% of people counted were sheltered and that 81% of surveyed people first became homeless in Oklahoma, with 73% first becoming homeless in Tulsa. Velez identified lack of affordable housing as the primary driver and said over half of people counted were experiencing homelessness for the first time that year.

Olsen and Velez described other factors that contribute to homelessness in Tulsa: youth exiting foster care (she said nearly one in five youth who leave foster care exit directly into homelessness), domestic violence, criminal-justice…