Link to report(PDF, 4MB)
The latest count of people experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City, held on Jan. 25, 2024, showed that 1,838 people were without a place to call home this year. This is an increase of 402 people from the 2023 count. While these numbers are in line with similar communities, local factors and reviewing data can provide a deeper understanding of homelessness in OKC.
The 2024 report can be downloaded at keytohomeokc.org.
The count also found:
- 7% of the population are veterans.
- 17% are members of families with children; none were sleeping outside.
- 36% are female, 62% are male and 2% are transgender or another gender identity.
- 45% are white, 35% are black and 9% are Native American.
- 9% are unaccompanied youth aged 24 or younger; no unaccompanied minors were sleeping outside.
- 20% of the population reports mental illness.
- 24% are considered “chronically” homeless.
- 62% were staying in a shelter, 13% in transitional housing, 1% in safe havens and 24% unsheltered.
Chronic Homelessness & Rehousing Capacity
The 17% increase in chronic or long-term homelessness is due to multiple factors, including the lack of affordable housing, an end to pandemic assistance and inflation. When people remain homeless longer, it suggests that the system needs more appropriate housing options to allow people to move on and stabilize in housing.
Key to Home Partnership’s Encampment Rehousing Initiative
While the number of total unhoused people increased in 2024, there is good news. The total percentage of OKC’s unsheltered population experiencing chronic homelessness fell to 48%, a 14% decrease from 2023. This represents a departure from a trend where the percentage of those sleeping outside long-term in Oklahoma City had been steadily growing, reaching a peak of 60% of the total population in 2023. Efforts to target those experiencing chronic unsheltered homelessness are beginning to make an impact through the Encampment Rehousing Initiative.
Since September 2023, 153 people living outdoors have been placed in homes through the Key to Home Partnership’s Encampment Rehousing Initiative, marking a 30% achievement of the overall goal.
The partnership’s goals are to house 500 chronically homeless and unsheltered people and rehouse or divert 100 youth from entering homelessness by the end of 2025. Beyond these milestones, the Key to Home Partnership is focused on refining our City’s homeless response system to make homelessness in OKC brief, rare and non-recurring.
“Key to Home’s Encampment Rehousing Initiative is beginning to make an impact, and we expect to see continued reductions in the number of residents sleeping outside,” Jamie Caves, City of Oklahoma City Homeless Strategy Implementation Manager, said. “But to sustain this trajectory, we will need to scale investments that help people exit homelessness quickly or prevent them from entering in the first place.”
Expanded Winter Shelters & Need for More Diversion Efforts
Deeper data analysis of the Homeless Management Information System suggests that the community’s cold-weather and overflow shelters served more people experiencing housing instability in the winter months, alongside some people experiencing sustained episodes of homelessness.
This new insight emphasizes that pursuing expanded diversion strategies such as mediation, legal assistance, problem-solving and one-time financial assistance targeted towards people who are housing insecure could prevent people from entering even one night of homelessness and avoid long-term investment in expensive emergency sheltering facilities.
“With eviction rates continually setting records in Oklahoma City, it is not surprising that an expansion of winter shelter would provide respite to those experiencing housing instability,” Meghan Mueller, CEO of Homeless Alliance, said. “We also know that we can meet those needs in a much more cost-effective and less traumatizing way by helping people remain in housing or with family or friends as they resolve their crisis.”
###
About the Homeless Alliance
The Homeless Alliance, a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization, helps coordinate and improve services for people experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma City. The Homeless Alliance has several housing programs for families with children, veterans and people who are chronically homeless, publishes The Curbside Chronicle and operates the Westtown Homeless Resource Campus, which includes a Resource Center, a housing complex and a Day Shelter that serves an average of 300 people each day. For more information about how to help, call the Homeless Alliance at (405) 415-8410 or visit www.homelessalliance.org.
About Key to Home Partnership
To address homelessness differently in Oklahoma City, the Key to Home Partnership was launched in April 2023. Key to Home is a public-private partnership of nearly 50 agencies, the City of OKC and the private sector, working together with a mission to prevent and end homelessness.
The Key to Home Partnership’s action plan is focused on reducing two sub-populations and refining the system to improve capacity and efficiency for everyone. 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 the end of 2025.
- Achieve a reduction in chronic Unsheltered Homelessness by rehousing 500 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness by the end of 2025.