Last Updated on November 21, 2022, 6:43 PM | Published: November 21, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY — OKC City Councilor Mark Stonecipher contends that persons without homes freeze on the streets of Oklahoma City in winter. It is a part of his argument for new ordinances he is proposing that would make arresting and jailing the homeless far more likely.
But, according to those who work with the homeless population year-round, that simply is not true.
A growing body of OKC residents are concerned about the proposals that provide ordinance support for clearing homeless camps, arresting those who cannot prove in writing that they have permission to be where they are.
The new ordinances also add new arrest possibilities for those who protest too loudly in public meetings, a matter that has little or anything to do with persons who have no homes.
Deaths by freezing?
In Stonecipher’s cover letter to the Council arguing for the new ordinances, he asked if it is humane to turn a blind eye while people freeze to death on our street.
But, that premise for the proposed ordinances doesn’t hold up in the actual experiences of homeless persons in Oklahoma City.
Over the last two winters, which included the ice storm of October 2020 and the extended freeze in February 2021, no persons experiencing homelessness have died on Oklahoma City streets due to the weather.
The statistic is profound, when considering the sheer numbers of our neighbors experiencing homelessness in that time. It demonstrates the ability of service providers to do crucial life-saving work with precious few resources.
During recent winters, a coalition of shelter providers work together to create a system of contingency shelter for particularly dangerous weather.
This year on nights forecasted to be 32 degrees or below, that includes beds for an extra 20 men at City Care, 50 women and children at Salvation Army, and 50 men and all women and children at City Rescue Mission. If the weather is more severe (including precipitation), the Homeless Alliance opens its Day Shelter for overflow shelter.
In the letter, Stonecipher explained that he worked with City Staff and the City’s Legal Department to craft the ordinances that propose to punish people experiencing homelessness when they are occupying public space.
There is little evidence that Stonecipher worked with service providers in the community, missing out on insights that could help him and others to approach the crisis of homelessness proactively.
Community concerns
The ordinances in question have raised many concerns across the community from people who fear that this is a way to further criminalize poverty. Among those concerns are the claims Stonecipher made in his cover letter.
He quotes a claim from a former mayor of San Diego saying that “Conventional wisdom and academic theories on how to end homelessness have proven to be largely ineffective.” Not only is the statement factually incorrect, it also leaves out the results of similar policies in their city.
San Diego passed similar ordinances to the ones proposed by Stonecipher. Homelessness has not been meaningfully reduced in San Diego as a result of those policies.
“San Diego saw a reduction in people out on the streets for a little over two months, then they were right back,” said Dan Straughan to a group of concerned residents who gathered at Mayflower Congregational Church Monday afternoon making the point that without something else to do besides arrests, a city ends up back with the same problems.
During this year’s Point in Time Count, a census of homelessness in a community on a single night, Straughan said that 1,339 people were surveyed and identified as experiencing homelessness. Of those, 471 were unsheltered. Across Oklahoma City’s shelter system, there are 850 beds. That means roughly 500 people a night literally have no place to stay. That results in encampments and trespassing complaints.
More arrests
The ordinances would give police discretion to warn first, then cite, then arrest persons occupying public space without “verifiable” permission to be in the space.
With the possibility of more arrests of persons who have no means to get out of jail on bond, the possibility of a larger incarcerated population grows.
Deaths — but, where?
Some in the community point out that no weather-related deaths among the local population of persons who are unsheltered stands in stark contrast to the Oklahoma County Detention Center (OCDC).
While no deaths in the streets have occurred among the targeted population over the last two winters, the OCDC has seen 15 deaths in 2022 so far.
In the light of fatalities in the Jail, critics are asking about the mechanism for arresting the homeless, “Does poverty deserve a death sentence in Oklahoma City?”
That is a question City Council will have to answer over the coming eight weeks before a final vote would be taken on the ordinances.
City Council will hear and possibly introduce the ordinances on Tuesday, November 22, at their 8:30 a.m. meeting. If they are introduced, a public hearing will be held on December 6. Then, the final vote is scheduled for January 3.
Columnist covering local government in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County from May 2019 through June 2023.
