Jake Ramsey

It is the start of the month, and rent is due.Most tenants in Oklahoma know who to pay, but tenants at apartments managed by, or formerly managed by, Vesta Realty aren’t so sure. That confusion stems from ongoing legal battles between Vesta Realty and YSA Investments 1.

When Cassandra Rhodes arrived home to her Drexel Flats apartment, a notice from Oklahoma City greeted her, stating her water would soon be shut off.

Oklahoma City’s eviction rates have doubled since 2016 and are more than double New York City's.More than 40% of evictions filed in Oklahoma County were from the same 100 properties.

In May, Operation SAFE, the governor’s initiative to remove homeless encampments from state property, was enacted in Norman.Two weeks later, the Norman City Council was criticized by residents and officials over an agenda item proposing a temporary suspension of the zoning ordinance to allow camping in residential areas. The agenda item was not scheduled for a vote, but was met with a unanimous rejection after public outcry.

It is a tale of three cities.On the morning of May 22, Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers cleared a homeless encampment on vacant state-owned property in Norman under Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Operation SAFE initiative. Service providers said there was no warning that an encampment sweep would be happening.

In early February, the city of Stillwater declared the Remington Ranch apartment complex a public nuisance. It was a unique and time-consuming approach to holding the problematic Tulsa-based landlord, Vesta Realty, accountable for the lack of heat and water tenants experienced for months on end.

Oklahoma Watch interviewed nine tenants at several different Vesta-owned properties, and each shared a similar experience.

In a video posted to his Facebook page, Jordan Lee gives a tour of a Utah house he moved into in 2023, pointing out his riding mower, auto lift and 86-inch television.

More than 66% of households on SNAP in the state have children, with more than 33% being older adults or disabled and more than 42% being working families.

Barbara Grimm was evicted from her Pine Lake apartment in Oklahoma City in early October.