Fire wrecks apt complex that was home to many housed from streets

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OKLAHOMA CITY – A fire in northwest OKC has claimed an apartment complex that housed more than a dozen previously homeless residents, but City officials are stepping up to make sure they don’t have to go back to streets.

The Meadows Apartments near NW 10^th and Rockwell Ave. were consumed by fire Sunday afternoon, leaving the roughly 50 residents that called the complex home now displaced, including 17 people that had been housed and supported in the apartments by the City’s Key to Home program.

Key to Home, and their Encampment Rehousing Initiative, coordinate City resources and outreach services across a public/private partnership to provide care and services to OKC’s homeless population, often helping people go directly from outdoor living and street encampments into housing units.

The Meadows was one of the apartment complexes that worked with the City to provide units for Key to Home efforts, a valuable resource and partnership at a time when fewer landlords and property owners are willing to accept City housing vouchers.

With the complex now condemned and evacuated after the fire, City officials are saying that the displaced tenants will continue to receive support and shelter, and not just the residents still active in the Key to Home program – the ones that had graduated, too.

A three-alarm fire

At 12:41pm Sunday, OKC firefighters responded to the fire at The Meadows Apartments, just a quarter of a mile away from the brand new OKC Fire Station 31 on Rockwell Ave.

Despite the close proximity, the fire had already spread by the time responders arrived, beginning to consume two of the four buildings at The Meadows through a shared roof and attic space, according to a press statement from OKC Fire that called the blaze “fast-moving” and rated it a “third-alarm” fire.

“Because each building had an open common attic space, the fire quickly spread through the attic to a third building,” the statement reads. “Firefighters initially made an interior attack, rescuing two residents from the buildings and assisting two others with evacuation. All four apartment buildings were evacuated as conditions rapidly deteriorated.”

Police confirmed to Free Press that multiple people were detained for questioning Saturday, but were released after. As of Wednesday morning, no arrests had been made in connection with the fire.

The complex was inspected and officially condemned Tuesday by City of OKC Code Enforcement.

50 people displaced; 17 from Key to Home

The approximately 50 residents of the apartment complex were all safely evacuated, and OKC Fire confirmed that their Community Service Liaison and the American Red Cross had worked to find them all temporary housing in area hotels.

17 of those displaced residents, however, had been Key to Home recipients housed from homelessness, many without the immediate means or pathways to secure new housing or to find a temporary residence.

When Key to Home houses people previously living in encampments – such as the 55 people recently housed from the large encampment on Virginia Ave. – they also provide a year’s worth of resource support, job placement assistance, and treatment services.

Key to Home Communications Director Erika Warren confirmed to Free Press Tuesday that all of their housed clients will continue receiving those resources and support, and that Key to Home will work to find them new housing in the city. But she added that they’re also providing those same housing services again to the Meadows residents that had already cleared that yearlong support period and “graduated” from Key to Home services.

“There were 11 active KTH clients staying there, and an additional 6 people were former clients who had graduated the program and still living there,” Warren said. “All 17 have been offered temporary hotel stays while they work with the team to find new housing units.”

Donations and support pour in

Since news broke of the fire and the displacement of residents, some major support has begun to pour in from across OKC.

Sarah Roberts of the Inasmuch Foundation – one of the foundation partners of the Key to Home program – confirmed to KOCO that Inasmuch had sent $5,000 upon hearing the news, and was preparing to provide more as the need becomes clear.

Key to Home also accepts direct donations of money through their fiscal sponsor, as well as donations of supplies, furniture, bedding, and more, and the program is always looking for any property owner or apartment manager willing to coordinate on housing.

To make a donation, visit the Key to Home donation page, and to discuss housing or complex gifts and donations, contact Erika Warren by email at erika.warren@okc.gov.

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