Available data shows Tulsa’s homelessness numbers have increased again.
Housing Solutions Tulsa counted 1,449 unhoused people in its point-in-time count in January. It’s 4% more unhoused people than were counted in the 2024 survey.
Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols said Tuesday that these numbers are “not news.”
“We know that this problem continues to get worse and worse and worse. And so what we have out in front of us is not necessarily a debate on the gravity of the problem. It’s just a decision we have as a community on what we’re gonna do about it,” Nichols said.
The point-in-time count report lists housing as the number one need of people experiencing homelessness. Loss of income, benefits and employment are also listed as contributing factors, according to Housing Solutions Director Mark Smith.
The report follows Nichols’ push to end homelessness by 2030. The mayor made this effort a key talking point in his run for office in 2024.
City Councilor Jackie Dutton called Nichols’ goal “huge.”
“We need not just affordable housing, because there is not going to be anyone on the street who is going to apply for a mortgage to get into a house,” Dutton said.
Dutton says transitional housing could lower homelessness. She described it as “an interim” that would allow unhoused people to get their feet on the ground.
“If you’re not housed, you don’t have the availability for transportation. You don’t have the availability to receive mail. You don’t have the ability to shower, necessarily, on a daily. And the little bit of stuff that you might have is still taken, sometimes, during sweeps,” Dutton said.
