The City of Tulsa plans to do something about the housing shortage with help from nonprofit Housing Partnership Network.
The partnership between HPN and Tulsa was announced at the Greenwood Cultural Center on Tuesday. HPN assists with expanding financing options for housing development and improving housing policy.
CEO of HPN Robin Hughes said the partnership makes sense.
“We felt like we were uniquely positioned to support the work that the community is already doing here, to partner with the community and to scale the production of affordable housing to address your (Tulsa’s) housing crisis,” Hughes said.
Officials said the at least 6,000 affordable housing units needed by the city aren’t just a shelter issue, either. Health is a concern.
“Those experiencing long-term housing affordability stress report significant negative effects on mental health related to social, emotional and mental functioning,” Chief Operating Officer with the Tulsa Health Department Reggie Ivey said. “The eviction process has also been found to have serious mental health repercussions on renters.”
Ivey said that affordable housing policy initiatives are critical.
“We need robust policies that promote affordable housing development, tenant protections and stricter housing quality standards to safeguard the health of residents,” Ivey said.
Tulsa joins Detroit and News Orleans as a third major HPN partner city.
The City of Tulsa plans to build nearly 13,000 houses for all income levels in the next decade, with nearly half of those houses being for low to extremely low-income households.
