Key to Home Partnership; Shelters need support
Published on February 10, 2024
The winter months can be deadly for the estimated 500 people living on Oklahoma City’s streets. That’s why Key to Home Partnership outreach teams and service providers are in the community warning people experiencing homelessness about the freezing temperatures moving into Oklahoma City.
“We are doing our best to encourage people to seek shelter during this cold snap,” Key to Home Partnership Implementation Manager Jamie Caves said. “Nobody will be turned away from shelter.”
EMBARK buses will transport people experiencing homelessness to a shelter free of charge.
People who are homeless with pets are welcome to stay at the Homeless Alliance or City Care.
How to support local shelters
Overnight shelters need financial contributions and donations of hand warmers and shelf stable food.
People can drop items off at one of the shelters listed below.
Cash contributions, which can be made on each nonprofit's website, help pay for things like blankets, food and staffing.
Overnight shelters
Overnight Youth Shelters
If you see someone experiencing homelessness
To connect people to services, call 211.
To contact an outreach team, call the Action Center, (405) 297-2535.
If there is an emergency, call 911.
Key to Home housing efforts
Since September 2023, 342 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.
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.
About 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.