Forty-seven people living in several outdoor encampments in south Oklahoma City are in the process of being housed and assigned a case manager thanks to intervention by nonprofit organizations that make up the Key to Home Partnership.
Some of the people lived in three camps around Draper Park, SW 44th Street and Robinson Avenue. The others lived in the area of SW 13th Street and MacArthur Boulevard.
Since September 2023, 88 people living outdoors have been placed in homes through the Partnership’s Encampment Rehousing Initiative. One of the goals of the Key to Home Partnership is to rehouse 500 people experiencing unsheltered, chronic homelessness by the end of 2025.
“I want to thank staff from the Mental Health Association, Hope Community Services, City Rescue Mission, Oklahoma City Housing Authority, Focus on Home, Homeless Alliance, City Care, Catholic Charities, NorthCare, SHINE, OKC Parks and Public Works for providing services,” Key to Home Partnership Strategy Implementation Manager Jamie Caves said. “Housing is the key to this crisis, and it will take all of us working together for a solution.”
People wanting to help can donate to the Key to Home Partnership at keytohomeokc.org.
Partners
- Staff from Key to Home Partnership, City Care, Mental Health Association, Homeless Alliance and Hope Community Services provided outreach and engagement services to those living in the encampment.
- City Rescue Mission and OCHA secured the apartments.
- Focus on Home furnished apartments with necessities.
- OCHA assisted with rental subsidies.
- Case managers are provided by the Homeless Alliance, City Care, Catholic Charities and NorthCare, who will help people stabilize and recover over the next year.
- Clean up of encampments is provided by Oklahoma County’s SHINE program.
- OKC Parks and Public Works helped with signage.
The winter months can be dangerous for the estimated 1,400 people living on Oklahoma City’s streets. Oklahoma City’s homelessness rate is a result of a myriad of complex factors such as low wages, the lack of affordable housing, rising eviction rates and inflation.
Key to Home Partnership
To address homelessness differently in Oklahoma City, a new system of governance called the Key to Home Partnership was launched in April 2023. Key to Home is a public-private partnership of over 40 agencies whose mission is to prevent and end homelessness in OKC alongside the City of OKC and the private sector.
The Key to Home Partnership’s action plan is to reduce unsheltered homelessness through housing. The four goals for 2023-2025 include:
- Create a new governance system.
- Address homelessness differently by improving infrastructure and capacity.
- Achieve a reduction in Youth Homelessness by rehousing or diverting 100 youth by 2025.
- Achieve a reduction in chronic Unsheltered Homelessness by rehousing 500 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness by 2025.